The Best of Car Talk - #2516: The Doctors Will See You Now

Episode Date: February 25, 2025

Despite their reputation as knuckleheads, mechanics have to deal with hundreds of different makes and models in their work, as opposed to, say, MDs who have only one make and two models to learn. How hard can medicine be? 'Let the malpractice begin!' on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.Get access to hundreds of episodes in the Car Talk archive when you sign up for Car Talk+ at plus.npr.org/cartalkLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

When she teaches her students how to write a song, musician Scarlett Keys says they need to ask themselves certain questions. What is the thing that keeps you up at night? What's the thing you can't stop thinking about? As songwriters, we are repurposing human tropes and a new viewpoint with new words, with new music. The people and technology behind the soundtracks of our lives. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the

Warranty Department here at Car Talk Plaza. Now we discuss warranties all the time. All the time. It's important in automobile purchase. And each and every one of us has at one time or another bought a product where you get some kind of a warranty. It says this item is warrantied for one year parts and labor. You got to fill out the little the little thing may have other rights which vary from state to state Tell you what they are if you don't know them that's tough They should have to tell you should they should have to tell you but they don't they don't I always fill these things out For like a toaster of VCR and you always wonder what she's will the warranty be void if I don't do this

I always wonder I always send them in. Well, it's not void. Here's one. Thank you for purchasing a McDonnell Douglas military aircraft. In order to protect your new investment, please take a few minutes to fill out the warranty registration card below. It asks for your name and all that. Which model aircraft did you purchase?

I want to know your income. F-14 Tomcat, F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon. Please check where this product was purchased. Received as a gift? Catalogue showroom? Sleazy arms broker? Please check how you became aware of the McDonnell Douglas product you have just purchased. Heard loud noise, looked up.

Store display, espionage, recommended by friends slash relatives slash ally. Please check the products that you currently own or intend to purchase in the near future. Color TV, CD player, ICBM, air to air missile, killer satellite. To help us understand our customers' lifestyles, please indicate the interests and activities in which you and your spouse enjoy participating on a regular basis. Golf, boating and sailing sailing running and jogging Sabotage Destabilization slash overthrow gardening crafts wines interrogation slash torture

Why not I mean they have to gather market data like everyone else right exactly what are they supposed to do sit there in a vacuum so to speak and make warplanes implements of destruction cost not marketing is everywhere is it is used to be a marketer yes what happened to you i quit give up the push cut out listen if you have a question about the warranty in your car or any other question for that matter you can call us at

1-800-332-9287 hello, you're on car talk. This is Rick Norton, and I'm calling you from Fort Worth, Texas Hi, Rick. Yeah, is that Rick with a K? Yes, R I C K. That's it. Okay Worth yes indeed well what I'm calling about is I have a 94 Toyota. It's a Camry and well what i'm calling about it i have a ninety four toyota to camry and uh... my breaks have gotten awful squeal now the breaks have already been replaced the pads the rotors everything but they're still squealing the question that i have is a friend of mine uh... where i work has offered me

this uh... sage advice to take a small bead of lithium grease and put it down the center of the break and that will eliminate any type of squeal center of what of the pads that no the center of the uh... that side of the payout of the jury inside of the the rotor i'm not really sure exactly where where to put it maybe you should be exactly how i would do it that's why i'm asking who did this did was this a great job that you did in your driveway though no this was done by Maybe you shouldn't exactly know I wouldn't do it. That's why I'm asking

Was this a brake job that you did in your driveway? No. No, this was done by nationally known break chain Midas. Yes Yes, I mean I that's good. That's good Did you do it was and I've taken it back to them once before and told me look the brakes are squealing Can you adjust it and they did and and for about a day or so they didn't know what i went back to take it for a third time they said well it sounds like uh... whenever you come to a stop sign your slam on your break since causing the glaze over the blame on you know that's a class last-minute pro-departure and they were explaining this to your eyes that the glaze over

but i thought that you know what to do next time a mechanic blames you, give him a dope slap. Get out of here! It's not me, it's the brakes. Sick of it! I am too. Tell him you're mad as hell and you're not going to take it anymore. It's the front brakes that are making the noise, I take it.

I'm assuming so, because that's the only one with the rotors on them. Right, the rear brakes on this car probably have drum brakes. Yes. If they want to make you happy, they can from Toyota buy the shim kit. The Toyota sells a set of Teflon shims which will go in place of the, in addition to this grease by the way, you'll take the calipers off, and with the pads in place, you will put a very light coating of grease on the pad itself, the metal part of the pad, the backside.

Not the front side. Not the front. No, you don't put any grease between the pad and the disc. No. That would make the noise go away, but it would make it difficult to stop. It might make you go crazy. So you put a very thin coating of this grease,

and then you put this Teflon shim, which little clips on it and then you put another very thin coating of grease and you do this to all four pads You put the calipers back on and the noise will be gone Well, I guess my question is regarding them is why didn't they do it the first time? Well, most of the time they don't squeal and the truth is it's probably you Well, I can't come over there and hit you on the other end of the phone. There are certain brake pads that will squeal and make other annoying noises depending upon how the person that drives the car stops. We've discovered over the years that the factory pads, no matter what you do, almost never make noise.

But the non-factory pads can perform more than adequately in 95% of the applications. But in those 5% where we have noises or other troubles, we just go ahead and put the factory pads in. And there are many cars on which we use only the factory pads because we know that we're apt to run into a problem if we don't. So if I go over to Toyota house and get the little shims that you're talking about I can take it to them and they can because they've got a lifetime warranty they can put it on for me? Here's what I would do if you're gonna go there buy the shims and the pads okay from the Toyota dealer go back

to Midas tell them you would like them to refund you the money for the pads and put on these Toyota pads and shims and the noise will be gone Okay, I'm sure they'll be really happy to do this. Okay. They will be yeah, well and they'll learn something too They've already learned it. That's why they blamed Rick Good luck man. Thank you very much. Good luck. Okay 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Joan in Arlington. Arlington what? Virginia. Virginia. Well, there happens to be an Arlington, Massachusetts. There is. There happens to be. There's an Arlington. I knew there was one in Texas, but I didn't know about that one. There's an Arlington in every one of the 48 contiguous states. But none is

not as noteworthy as Arlington,lington virginia no everyone knows what that one is everyone so what's up june joe june joe june june uh... i think i had the jay part right in the month is june i think i'll maintain all right jane what's up uh... well i'm hoping you can we've all a different opinion i have with a friend

male a female friend female okay involved speed and the life span of a car uh... i am of the opinion that if you don't super fast on the highway

you will be preserving the life of your car the engine will last longer well defined super fast on the highway you will be preserving the life of your car the engine will last longer well defined super fast 70 75 so you you are proponent of driving 65 or less and your friend drives 75 or more when you can I mean on the open highway or you know places where the speed limit is 65 and people are clearly going you know 75 right well is of that is that the range of its 65 to 75 Because if that's the case if it's greater than 75 well, I mean does it have to be much greater than 75 Oh, I don't know I probably not over you know 75. Oh, okay

But well, I mean here's the here, here's the basic trade-off. If you drive faster, you get there sooner. Right. Duh. Maybe. Which means you're putting less time on the car. Uh-huh. Okay, let's see where this is going.

Just like, if you were low on gas, you should drive as fast as possible. No, no, I know. So you run out of gas sooner while it's still daylight. It's still daylight and you might be able to coast. If you get going fast enough. No, but I mean that is really the trade-off and the difference between 65 and 75 isn't much. Isn't much, however, the drag or the wind resistance goes up with the square of the speed Yeah, like if it were 55 versus 75 it would be double

Yes, you so you would use much more gas because the wind resistance would be twice as much Not only would you be using more gas which which we know I mean the faster you go is As long as you're not traveling in a vacuum the more fuel is going to take because of the wind resistance But also the harder you make the engine work So the engine runs harder the hard harder equates to harder, right? So then harder equate equates to where I shortened life So if you consistently drive at very high speed and shortened life. If you consistently drive at very high speed, but there's hardly much difference between 65 and 75 for it to make that much of a

difference, but if the difference were between 55 and 85, I'd say you'd see a significant difference. But more important than how fast your ultimate speed is, at least if we're talking about 65 and 75, is how fast you get there. No, really. The wrecking of a car is much more a function of acceleration than it is of speed. So we're going at a constant steady speed. A constant steady speed is okay, but if you're, for example, if you hit the entrance ramp on the highway and you're doing essentially zero, and you floor the thing and keep it fluid until,

while your head is snapped back so far You can't see the speedometer and then when you think you've passed everyone You'll ease up on the gas pedal and you settle into like a nice cruising speed of 80 You'll wreck the engine and the rest of the car too, right? But if you get up to that speed in a sane way The car will last forever and it won't make much difference whether you drive at 65 or 75 okay but you're safer at 55 than you are at 75 that's not part of the discussion it's not missable as evidence it's not admissible no because the prosecution did not open up that bag of worms that's all right well you may have to well her position is it doesn't really make much difference then you'd So I have to tell my friend that she's right? Well, you may have to.

Well, her position is it doesn't really make much difference, then you'd have to tell her she's right. On the other hand, you could tell her that you didn't get through to us. And you'll still be trying. See you, Joan. Okay, thanks a lot. Good luck. June, June.

Bye. See you, Joan. Bye. We'll be right back with the answer to the puzzler after these messages. This message comes from eBay. Picture this. You're halfway through a DIY car fix, tools scattered everywhere, and boom, you realize you're missing a part.

It's okay because you know whatever it is, it's on eBay. They've got everything, brakes, headlights, cold air intakes, whatever you need and it's guaranteed to fit, which means no more crossing your fingers and hoping you ordered the right thing. All the parts you need at prices you'll love, guaranteed to fit every time. eBay, things people love.

This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things and other currencies, every time. eBay. Things. People. Love. This message comes from Wyse, the app for doing things in other currencies. Sending or spending money abroad? Hidden fees may be taking a cut. With Wyse, you can convert between up to 40 currencies at the mid-market exchange rate. Visit Wyse.com. TNCs apply. Well, it's time once again to ask my brother whether he remembers last

week's puzzler. Do you mean the puzzler about baseball? Oh I've been taking pills. I've been taking memory pills. What are they called? I can't remember. And I tell you, it's a wonderful feeling to be able to, zoom, zing you right back. I mean, for years, for decades even. You've asked me, do you remember the Puzzler? I don't remember the Puzzler. Yeah, but I've gotten the cuss. It was fun every week. It was no damn fun.

Yeah, you're right. And as I explained to you, I've always remembered the puzzler. No, you- And I always thought that it would be fun for you if I made believe that I didn't. So I can't have fun anymore? So I mean, I guess I just got tired of being the brunt, the brunt of your laughter jeers.

That's it. That's it. All right, well, here it is. But I can go back to the other. Anyway, this puzzler comes from Philip Brett via our website, cartalk.msn.com, and here it is. Yeah. This puzzler involves an historic baseball game which took place in June of this year, i.e. 1997. It was notable not for what happened that day, but for what didn't happen.

And it had nothing to do with the actual playing of the game, so to speak. I mean, it wasn't like 17 home runs were hit or words hit. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game.

It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. It was a game that was played in the game. not for what happened that day, but for what didn't happen. And it had nothing to do with the actual playing

of the game, so to speak. I mean, it wasn't like 17 home runs were hit, or words hit, or there were three no hitters pitched in the course of one game, or something like that. And this thing that didn't happen has not, not happened. Yeah. For more than like 50 years, I think. And the question very simply was if you could figure out all those double negatives, what was

it that happened? Or more importantly, didn't happen. Didn't happen. Yeah. I mean, I could have given a hint, but I, I believe on June 30th, 1997, there was a baseball game played, a major league baseball game, not an exhibition game, but a bona fide game played between the Toronto

Blue Jays and the Montreal Expos. And the American national anthem was not played. It's the first time the two Canadian teams played each other because of interleague play. So what did they do? Allons enfants de la patrie. No.ria? No. Well, anyway. So what didn't really? It could be complete baloney.

But boy, did it sound good or what? Sure. I mean, it would make sense that the American national anthem had been played every single game in Major League Baseball. Because up until that, well, it's only been played for about 50 years, I believe. Well, it wasn't written until 1945. There you go. Yeah. So it was only, it's only been played for about 50 years.

By Robert Louis Stevenson. At every baseball game. Yeah. Every baseball game, except it was unnecessary to play it at this game. So usually when American teams play Canadian teams they do both? Well yes they would do both but because there's only one Canadian team in each league until this year there was no opportunity for two Canadian teams to ever play each other but this year it happened.

Pretty darn good, eh Tommy? I hope it's right. I do too, it would be another embarrassment. My ego can't take it. Who's our winner this week? Well, before you ask me who the winner is, I'd like to tell you that the winner is Sandy Falck. Wow, that's an unusual name. F-A-L-C-K. From South Euclid, Ohio.

Is that where they make the Euclid off-road vehicles with the tires that are 25 feet tall? I bet they do. I bet it is. Oh, I'd love to drive one of those, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you love to brush a few Hyundai's with one of those things? I still remember the day when the little bobcat was in my backyard, because they were doing landscaping.

And my brother gets in it, and you could see the look on his face. I mean, things were happening inside. That diabolical little look. Things were happening inside. And within 30 seconds, I had it hot-lipped. He notices that the ignition switch looks like it's broken. So he takes out a screwdriver out of his pocket and he sticks it in.

He turns it and the thing starts. And the look of ecstasy. It was hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee I don't miss them. It looks much cleaner without them. As does without the back porch. That was exciting, wasn't it? Oh. Anywhere were we? I don't know. Oh, the winner. The winner. Oh, South Euclid.

Talk about digressing. Oh, that's it. South Euclid. that's what did it. Sandy Falk from South Euclid, Ohio and for having your answer chosen from among both right answers that we got this week Sandy, you're going to win our very latest album, a collection of our favorite calls about couples and cars called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford, which is zooming to the top of the bestseller list in this country and in several countries overseas. It's the best audio product to toss in the basement.

Anyway, we have a brand new puzzle coming up in a second. Brand new, brand new. Yeah, well. Don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hey guys, this is Katie in Portland, Oregon. Katie, how you doing? Good.

That's great. So what's shaking, Katie? Well, listen, I think this is a real mystery for you guys. I have a 1990 Volvo 740 wagon that I bought about a year and a half ago. I got news for you. Just about everything is a real mystery. Continue. is a real mystery continued uh... about six months or so

i would go i would notice when i started driving that my right leg would start going down like circulation and then i would be barreling down the freeway lifting myself off the feet with my left leg just so i could try to get some blood flow back into my leg. Really? You know negates any possible safety features of the Volvo I think. It probably does. Now tell me again when you bought this vehicle? About a year and

a half ago. A year and a half and how long did it take for this numbness to occur? I think about a year. Oh a whole year? Yeah. So you drove the car without a problem for a year and it's only recently? Well without a problem that i'm going to go into it you guys with the list of problems that then what that that that that what that that that i didn't rest it back whatsoever in any of the mechanical no no this is a medical problem and what we can broaden our eyes into medicine i've always wanted to try to ask about it i mean it seems so easy on the surface especially orthopedics. Yeah, you are rich negative

Yeah, you know we got numbness in the right leg Is it all the way from from the thigh down into the what do you call that? You know orthopedics good, it's just one step more difficult than dermatology. There's gotta be one heck of a zit to stump the dermatologist. All right, go on. I'm sorry, Katie. We're taking this way too lightly, and we apologize. All right, so you drive, and you've got numbness in the entire length of your right leg.

Pretty much the entire, I'd say more in the foot, but definitely the entire... More in the foot. It starts right at the, right at your rump, huh? Well, I didn't want to get into that on the radio, but yes, you're right. It does. Do you jog? No. You can start.

Right leg. I think of a classic case of bad circulation. I'll call it that, except here's the mystery. It doesn't happen in any other car that I drive or I'm in a passenger. Right, it doesn't because what's happening, I think, is the angle of the seat is cutting off the circulation just above your knee. And the reason I know this is we get an opportunity to test drive with few exceptions, just about everything that's sold. Like, we don't test drive Jaguars or Chevrolets anymore, but everything else we get to, we get an opportunity to test drive with few exceptions, just about everything that's sold.

Like we haven't, we don't test drive Jaguars or Chevrolets anymore, but everything else we get to test drive, pretty much. But there are many cars which I find uncomfortable for that very reason because the seat is either too short or too long or the angle's peculiar and you can't, a lot of cars don't have seats that you can adjust very much.

The best cars have electric seats where you can adjust the seat to avoid problems like this. In fact, my wife drove a Mazda. What was that thing called? MPV. Yeah, MPV for several years and she complained of a knee injury. A multiple pain vehicle. Multiple pain, yeah, knee and foot. Multiple pain vehicle. Knee and foot.

Multiple pain vehicle. And she tried to convince me that it was because of the angle of the seat. The angle that her leg made when she sat on the seat. And that the only thing that would solve it would be if she had a Mercedes. Well that was my next question. I would recommend a Mercedes. Tell your husband. Tell your husband.

Great. That's the only thing that's going to cure it. Well, you know, that was actually I've been trying to get a new car and you're giving me the exact answer that I wanted without much prompting on my part. No, none at all. The check you sent helped. Do you have a Caribbean contingent in Portland, Oregon? A Caribbean contingent? Yeah, I mean, do you have people from the

West Indies? Yeah. Portland's not known for its... Well, because all the Jamaican cab drivers in the greater Boston area, and I don't know if other ethnic groups use these, they have these things they put on their seats the beads beads There you go. Yeah, I think you should try though. No, no, no, no, we got the woman of Mercedes here By a six dollar bead The real question is did your wife get the Mercedes? Those beads are great though. Give me your number, I'm going to call her and consider it. Well, if you don't want to spring for the expensive car, try the beads.

They may provide enough muscular stimulation to get the blood flowing better. Okay, so after having spent an arm and a leg on a used car, I now have to go buy more for it. Yeah, you do. Hey, Katie, it's been a joy and a pleasure to talk to you. Well, thank you so much. And enjoy your new car. Okay. Thanks, guys.

Okay. Bye-bye. Bye. Don't move, because more calls and the new puzzler are coming right up. We're back Listening to car talk don't scare me like that from national public radio with us, Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, of course, and car repair if we absolutely have to, and a few more items for the Roadkill menu. Remember the Roadkill Cafe menu?

According to Bobby Lyle, he claims he actually does have a restaurant called the Roadkill Restaurant. Well, there is a national chain, I believe, called the Roadkill Cafe. Yeah. Which has some interesting, interestingly named items, although they really aren't. Well, I mean, I'll just run through a few of these.

I mean, some of these we may have discussed at an earlier time. Shoot, baby. But I liked chunk of skunk, a smidgen of pigeon, road toad alamoad, and rigor mortis tortoise. How about anything dead on bread? Rack of raccoon, a smear of deer, I like that one. And let's see, that's it. What's your personal favorite? My personal favorite would be anything dead on bread.

In bad taste. It's in bad taste. And probably tastes bad too. That's why we love it so much. Okay, it's time for the new puzzler. Yeah, oh new historic. I have a plethora of potentially putrid puzzles from which to choose and I've chosen this one. Yeah okay. I'll have to embellish it. I'll try not to obfuscate it. I'll try not to get you into any trouble. A few years ago I was vacationing in in upstate New York and I was in a little sleepy town called Cold Springs. Yeah. Which has nothing to do with anything but that's where I was. We never know. We've got to pay attention. I lie. And I had occasion to go to an antique auction, not an old auction but

an auction of antiques that is, where they claim to have some rare and priceless antiques, stuff that collectors would really want. One of the items that comes up is a child's sled, wooden sled, that the auctioneer claims was made by George Washington himself. Wow. Did it say Rosebud on it? There's teeth marks from his wood. And he turns the thing over and carved into one of the wooden slats is G. Washington, September 10, 1752.

Now I remember from sixth grade that the square root of three is George Washington's birthday. 1732 is when Washington was born. So he would be 20 years old. Yeah. And it would stand to reason that the age of 20, not having launched his military career, he would be engaged in making sleds. Making sleds for maybe his own kids or maybe a niece or a nephew.

So I'm ready to bid 20 bucks on the thing and someone in the crowd pipes up and says, it's a fake! Wow. You have all the information necessary. Yeah, and then some. And then some. And then some.

And then some. All right, now what if someone actually thought he or she knew the answer? Well, if you think you know the answer, or you're really peeved at your boss and you'd like to spend a few hours on the internet, you can do one of several things. You can mail us a letter to Puzzler, car talk plaza, box 3500, Harvard square, Cambridge, our fair city, ma zero two two three eight. Or you can email us while you're visiting our website and spending your lunch hour and maybe a few other hours.

That's right. You know, the boss comes by, you hit the boss button. There you go. No problem. Our website is car talk dot MSN dot coms. You just, you're just going to click on the talk to car talk section and you can communicate with us electronically. And if we choose your correct answer at random from amongst all the correct answers, you'll

get your very own copy of our brand new CD called Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford or some other gift from the Shameless division's holiday boutique. Our number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello. Hello. This is Fran in Columbia, Missouri. Fran! Hi.

Columbia, Missouri. That's right. What's shaking? I inherited from my grandfather a nineteen eighty nine lincoln town car or now yeah uh... at the good news is that only have forty three thousand miles on it i mean literally this is one of those little old stories little old man story now the reason i ended up with this car is that i have a fifteen-year-old daughter

who will soon be driving and my father thought well here's a safe car a lot of metal around her. Yeah but she wouldn't be caught dead in one of those would she? Well my husband had to fly down to Florida and drive this car back. Now when he got to Florida I said called him on the phone I said also tell me about the car. Being a man a few words he goes it's all hogs

and yeah i sure is now you know he drove it home and uh... my daughter walked out and took a look at it again call up party barred you don't do you know she was a lot of that backseat i don't know what they know you know, this concerns me. I gotta say, she said I can fit ten people in the back seat.

A party barge, I love it. So, you know, I've been looking at this car thinking, well what am I gonna do with it, you know? I went to drive it and it makes, I guess it's the belts go, you know, make this real eee kind of sound and then when you turn the heater on more II noises start coming and yeah those are nothing although you want to keep all those noises because when she tries to sneak out of the house at 1130 you'll hear her start the car don't fix any of those noises and you'll hear her coming home well that's the other thing I

figure you know Columbia's not a very big town I mean this girl driving around in this car my friends will be able to keep an eye on her. Sure. Yeah, I saw Erica, you know, downtown in the car. So, but, you know, then it's... All them fellas hanging out the windows. So your daughter wants the car.

Well... She wants to drive it, and you have some kind of second thoughts about it. Well, I'm wondering, you know, I mean, she may have to quit school and get a job at McDonald's just to afford the gas on it. Well, I mean, I'm thinking of it, I mean, if I had a 15-year-old daughter, would I want her to be driving this car? And I haven't convinced myself one way or the other. Granted, it's a lot of iron around you, which makes it safe.

On the other hand, it handles like for nothing. Right. I mean, it's a lot of iron around you and which makes it safe on the other hand it handles like for nothing right i mean it's rotten it's terrible it's lousy it's horrible can't go around a curve without no tipping upside down and we wish he's going to be going with this handling of the car well is not going to be a kiss there'll be other handling going on uh... that's it it's all that's it's gone so that going on. Oh no, that's it, it's gone. That's all she had to hear. I'm buying her a little two-seater thing with a bucket seat. She needs a Geo Metro.

Or a motorcycle. Yeah, Geo Metro. Well, I had to tell you, it was my moral responsibility as a parent. No, no, I think she will not get into trouble with this car. I think she should drive it. Well, maybe there's some way that you can modify the backseat to make it uninviting. Yeah.

Well, my thought was to take all the seats out and just put like an airline pilot seat right in the center. Yeah, that would be good. I'm saying you should keep this car. You should take it down to your mechanic. Have him change all the vital fluids Have them change the belts take a look at the hoses and stuff that have been sitting there for all those years make sure the tires are okay and

And start giving Erica some lessons in driving the monster because it's not gonna be easy Yes, you can go to James T. Kirk school Yeah, maybe Joe Hazelwood is still around. Is he still kicking? Yeah, he is. Thanks a lot guys. I appreciate your advice. Good luck. Bye. Bye bye. Whoooo!

While you've wasted an otherwise perfectly good hour listening to Car Talk, our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Catherine Crystal Ray. And our engineer is Jonathan Marston. Our technical, spiritual, and otherwise life issue advisor is Mr. John S. Lawler. The Stump the Chumps theme is by B.J. Liedemann. Our public opinion pollster is Paul

Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Marge Inovera. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot. From the New Delhi office, our blues coordinator is Mohammed Ntolmi. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Uttman. Our tangent governance is Donna De Aval learn and our east asian used car expert is alexander solzhenitsyn our evasive driving instructor is very abruptly our boston traffic director is maura biden our director of moral support as you demand and our head of mischievous persuasion is edgar onsome got it yeah i got it immediately. Did I? Our Leo Tolstoy biographer is Warren Peace, author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Peace. Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey Cheatham and Howe is Hugh Lewis Dewey, known

on the benches and under the benches of Harvard Square as Huey Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers. Don't drive like either of my siblings. And don't drive like my brother or sister. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now, here with an important announcement is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie

Oombats. Vinnie? Alright now listen up. If you want a copy of this week's Car Talk Show, which is number 48, here's what you're gonna do. Okay, are you going to give out the phone number now, Vinnie? want a copy of this week's car talk show which is number 48 is what you're gonna do okay you going off are you going to give out the phone number now Vinnie is that right no I'm gonna go cow tipping with the Queen of England you moron the number to call is 303-823-8000 and if people wanted the new CD about couples

and cars you know men are from GM women are from Ford would they call exactly that same number Vincent no I think you just wish upon a star or something like that. What do you think? For all kinds of car talk all of their gifts including car talk CDs you call 303-823-8000 Or you can peruse our shameless commerce division at car talk on MSN.com Are you got anything to add to this mr.. Radioman? Well, actually, now that you mention- Hey, shut up! Car Talk is a production of Do We Cheat Him and How and WBUR in Boston. And even though Sylvia Pujol-y considers renouncing her U.S. citizenship every time she hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.

Excuse me, señor. NPR Shortwave Podcast has entered the chat. One moment, please. To examine all of the AI generated content out there. Ads, Google searches, even your social media feed. Find out what happens when AI models like ChatGVT consume too much of their own AI generated data. Spoiler alert, they could collapse.

Find out more on Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. Technologist Paul Garcia is using AI to create photos of people's most precious memories. How her mother was dressed, the haircut that she remembered. We generated tens of images and then she saw two images that was like, that was it. Ideas about the future of memory. That's on the TED Radio Hour podcast from NPR. There's been a lot of attention on loneliness lately. 16% of Americans report feeling lonely all or most of the time. The former Surgeon General even declared a loneliness epidemic.

On It's Been a Minute, we're launching a new series called All The Lonely People, diving deep into how loneliness shows up in our lives and how our culture shapes it. That's on the It's Been A Minute podcast on NPR.