The Best of Car Talk - #2457: Dad Sold the Car!

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

When she was growing up, Linda's family went everywhere in their '66 Rambler Station Wagon. But just the other day, her dad sold it to a neighbor instead of offering it to Linda. Should she just let it go and be satisfied with eyeing it in the neighbor's driveway? Find out what Click and Clack think 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

In this country, some truths aren't self-evident. In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths, a collection of stories is wide-ranging and real as the people who tell them we celebrate the Black experience for all its soul and richness. broadcasts. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us click and clack the Tappert Brothers. We're broadcasting this week from what seems to be a smoke-filled room here at car talk Plaza my bagel I left it the toast Well, it's Cajun style now, baby Hey, Doug unplug the toaster there for me with you

Actually, you know we mentioned smoke-filled rooms because there are strategic political decisions being made this week in car talk Plaza This is this is heavy stuff Yeah strategic political decisions being made this week in Cartogh Plaza. This is this is heavy stuff. Yeah. As not enough of you know, my brother and I are running as write-in candidates for co-president. Yeah, co-presidents. Co-presidents. Co-presidency. A co-presidency. Under the slogan, Tom and Ray, unencumbered by the thought process. And we have received many suggestions from our listeners. Have we ever? I mean, I got thousands, hundreds, maybe four. You got six. The first 200 said, bow out gracefully. Well here's one. Actually, I mean most of these, all

of these, I think came, why is that? All of these came through the, through the website. Want no more snail mail? What's the story? This one came from someone named Mark Russell. I don't know if it's the same Mark Russell, but he writes a little treatise here on the right to arm bears. With the proliferation of semiotic weapons, I believe it's imperative we extend the Second Amendment to cover all game animals, as well as those that hunt them. So he wants the right to armmbuds. I'm for that. Someone named Dave Kaplan, and we don't know where any of these people are from when they just give us-

Well, they could identify the awareabouts, but maybe they don't want to. They don't want to. Well, Dave Kaplan, among other things, suggested that we should support, and we will introduce, Medicar. Instead of Medicare, Medicar. Too many people are unable to get and keep a job because they don't have a

reliable car we could have cop many car i like that i would like to have a pretty cards good uh... then there's this one this whole running for president scheme as a fatal flaw you seem to be overlooking the fundamental insidiousness of political office and this is this is serious, though.

After a lifetime of careful study, I've concluded that no matter who you start with, be he a poet or a quarterback, an astronaut or an actor, once he is in political office, he immediately undergoes a horrid transmogrification and solidifies permanently in the shape of a politician. Draw back from this fate worse than death. Already you taught her on the brink what would talk of platforms and policies and things that ought to be... And this, you're right, Jan from Ann Arbor, but what we haven't made clear is that if elected, we will not accept. I mean, we don't want to win, right? We have to make that clear to people. No, if we win, we don't want to win, right? We have to make that clear to people. No, if we win, we'll just give it back.

No. No, it is kind of like, if we didn't accept it, it'd be kind of like fishing, you know, catch and release. My wife was berating me recently for the notion of catching fish and eating them. And she said that I should embrace this catch and release philosophy. And I said it was all right with me

as long as I was able to delay the release for a couple of days. Look, if you have a question about your car or anything else you can call us at 1-800-332-9287. Hello you're on Car Talk. My name is Chalice. Chalice? Yes. Like the ones that are made out of gold? Well it's pronounced the same but it's spelled differently.

Let's end with an S. C-H-A-L-I-S? Two L's and two S's. Oh! C-H-A-L-L-I-S-S. That's me, yeah. And what is the genesis of this name? It is an Irish surname. Oh, really?

Yes. The surname is usually spelled with one S and my name is for some reason not. Oh, that's the female version. Oh, in fact I went to high school with a guy named Gary Chalice. Yup, that's the same name. Oh, so he must have been from the old sod. Well, I'm not. You're not. My family is.

Where are you from now, Chalice? I live now in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Yeah. And I have just moved here. This is a new place for me. From? From Richmond, Virginia, before that. Oh, the neighbors ran you out, huh?

Right, well, we'll get to that in a minute. I just came down here to vote. So what's up, Chalice? Well, I have... My car is an 87 Toyota Tercel. When I break Going downhill rapidly, but it happens basically when I'm breaking from any any rapid speed anytime I'm going 40 or so miles an hour

Yeah, yeah, it does that and it's really really really really really bad going downhill, but Yeah, that's it that's that's my car yeah you have warped disc rotors or warped drums or both yeah I was afraid of that you need to get that fixed because if it's as bad as I think it is it has lengthened your stopping distance sure maybe all the times that you're on the off boom you're not getting any braking well you're getting some but you're certainly getting diminished braking by having warped discs or drums. And you're shaking the heck out of the front end of the car, so you probably have wrecked other things as well, if it's been doing this for a long time.

Um, not a really long time, no. Actually, it started shortly before I moved here, but because I was trying to get- Me? Me? Measuring in geologic time? Was that 92, 93? No, no, I just here less a month and a half ago oh okay how how do you work well I have a little job but it's not a big job I'm a graduate student how much approximately should I expect to pay for you may end up

spending several hundreds yeah because you probably need pads and you'll probably need new discs oh yeah no question about that and we add all that together it's gonna be a few hundred you may you may need a caliper or two or drums and wheel cylinders and shoes maybe you don't need this car how far from school what are you going to be majoring in anyway? journalism journalism and i take the bus to school actually. I just

take the car to work into the grocery store. And you don't have any plans to drive this thing a long distance? Well, I had thought about trying to drive it home for the holidays but I think I'll end up taking a train because I just don't trust it. Yeah. But have it checked out, I mean just to make sure that there's nothing wrong with the front end too. But I think all the problems that you have or in the brake system uh... it may cost a few hundred bucks to fix it if that's what it costs i would get it fixed okay if it's more than that

then walk seachess alright thank you very much by like that i one eight hundred three three two nine two eight seven whole year on car talk a different from savannah a don't chip yeah i'll just one get named Chip? It's very positive. Well, see there's a long generation of Charlezes in the family. Oh, so you're a child the second, third or fourth. You're a Chip off the old block. Exactly.

Yeah See, I think up here in the Northeast Chip is generally a nickname of the, how should I say, the super rich. Oh, I thought you were going to say something else. Like Buffy, Muffy? Yeah, the private school crowd, you know? CHIP.

Right, exactly right. The guys who play lacrosse. Yeah, field hockey. Field hockey. You don't play field hockey, do you? No, not like that. Rugby? You just play soccer. Soccer, wow, that's a little sissy games too. All right Chip, what can we do for you? Well, I own a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder. Nice car. Yes, yeah, oh yeah, it's a good car. Down here in

Savannah, we got a lot of heavy rains, a lot of heavy flooding. And I was driving the truck through some heavy water. And it was up about, oh, gosh, up to about the height of the grill. And now, after, you know, I'm out of the flood and everything, every time I depress the clutch, it makes a wheezing sound. Yeah, sure. You know? And so I looked in the owner's manual and and it said okay you may have some water in there you can pull this little access plug to drain the water out of the clutch. The clutch itself is open to the air so to speak I mean there's an access hole where the fork is for the release bearing. I think that water got in there and then it washed away the grease on

the little pivot ball and then it rusted. So now you're hearing, every time you step in the clutch you're getting the ball grinding against its socket making that noise. It's as you're depressing the clutch that you hear the noise. Yes, exactly. Here's how you're going to find the noise. And not when the clutch is coming back up. Yeah, that too, but you don't hear it so much because you're revving it up. Exactly. I agree with my brother on this one. Here's how you're going to solve the problem. With the engine off and the thing parked and the handbrake... You're going to tell him to drive through Greece.

Drive through high as the water was. Greece is too far away, plus you have to cross the ocean. You're going to get an assistant who's going to step on the pedal for you with the engine off and the thing in park and the handbrake on and all that. Okay. And you're going to hear the noise and you're going to get under the truck. So the engine is turned off? The engine's turned off. Everything's turned off? It'll make the noise with the engine turned off. I will. I'm pretty sure it will. Oh sure. Okay, but you're going to make the noise with the engine turned off by stepping on the

clutch and releasing it. Okay. Your assistant is and you are going to be underneath with a length of rubber hose, hose that's more maybe at 3 1⁄8 of an inch in diameter, outside diameter, with a hole in it. The kind of hose you can buy at an automotive store. This is serious business, listen up. Yeah, it's not like something, yeah. I wonder if I should get my wife under there.

No, she's gonna step on the clutch pedal, and you are gonna stick one end of the hose in your ear, and the other end, you're gonna use it like a stethoscope. And as your wife steps on the pedal and releases it, you're finally going to home in on the very spot that the noise is coming from. And that spot is going to be inside the bell housing and it's going to be exactly where I suspected it was on that ball and socket joint on the clutch fork. What you'll be able to see.

Sort of. Yeah, there's a rubber boot that covers it. You may have to peel that boot away and you'll be able to hear the noise and see that spot. And what you need to do is shoot some grease in there. You can buy white lithium grease in a spray can. Is this thing going bad or is it getting ready to go bad? No, it just got dry. Dry and rusty. It got dry because you got it wet. Okay.

Right. Figure that out. So when you find the noise, you go to the hardware store, you buy a can of lithium grease with a little wand on the end so you can get into a small spot. Okay. And a couple of little sprays and a few workings of the pedal in and out and the noise will be gone. All right, hey that sounds pretty good. And if that works I'll be amazed. No, I think that's it. Give it a shot. Yeah, that sounds like a good deal. I can see myself in an area with this hose in my ear. Yeah, yeah, no, and the hose is useful for a lot of different things. Save the hose, you never know. Oh, my wife would probably want to get a picture of this. See you later, Chip. Hey, listen, appreciate your help.

All right, bye-bye. Good luck. Bye-bye. Don't go anywhere because we've got a lot more calls. Well, a few anyway, coming up right after this. Last year, over 20,000 people joined the Body Electric study to change their sedentary screen-filled lives. And guess what?

We saw amazing effects! Now you can try NPR's Body Electric Challenge yourself. Listen to updated and new episodes wherever you get your podcasts. All that sitting and swiping. Your body is adapting to your technology. Learn how and what you can do about it. I really felt like the cloud in my brain kind of dissipated. Once I started realizing what

a difference these little breaks were making, there's no turning back for me. Take NPR's Body Electric Challenge. Listen to the series wherever you get your podcasts. It's a high stakes election year, so it's not enough to just follow along. You need to understand what's happening so you are fully informed come November. Every weekday on the NPR Politics Podcast, our political reporters break down important stories and backstories from the campaign trail, so you understand why it matters to you. Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast wherever you get your podcasts. Support for NPR and the following message come from the Walton Family Foundation, working to create access to opportunity for people and communities by tackling tough social

and environmental problems. More information is at waltinfamilyfoundation.org. Okay, you know what we have in this time slot? The answer to last week's puzzler. So this week's puzzler. This week's, oh. Next week, we'll have the answer to this week's puzzler. Yeah, yeah, I know that. Although there have been some disgruntled comments

from the puzzler itself. Oh, really? Well, it doesn't want to get back from vacation? No, it's kicking and screaming. Yeah. Well. Being dragged back to work. Anyway, the puzzler has been very busy this

summer. We thought it was living up, living it up like Wayne Newton, but that's not true at all. Turns out our puzzler spent the summer involved in a messy divorce. Oh no. Yep. yep. Mrs. Puzzler evidently caught him with a New York Times crossword puzzle.

No kidding! And now she wants custody of all the best of Car Talk CDs we use as prizes. It's messy and it's the kind of thing we try to avoid. I mean this is a family show and all that. That's what happens though, you give people time off and they get into trouble. So as you might imagine, the P puzzler was in a foul mood when it got back yesterday in addition to the fact that it thinks it's being rushed back to work he thought he had at least two more weeks vacation. But it is back

and it's just in just a few short minutes like maybe 20 we will present the first puzzler of the fall puzzle season. Are you going to say it's going to be like an interesting or an automotive or quasi-automotive or... I can't divulge it but I can't divulge it this time because I don't know what the puzzle is. You knew that. You figured that out. I know. If you'd like to call us with a puzzle suggestion on a number it's 1-800-332. Between now and 15 minutes from now, that would be best. 9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hello, this is Linda from Blacksburg, Virginia.

Linda from Blacksburg. Blacksburg. Blacksburg, why do I know that name? Well, there's a huge university here. There is? Yeah, Virginia Tech. Yeah, be you, Blacksburg you. guys I've got I have a real problem and you can have to take your mechanic shingle down and put up your psychology shingle

for this way got it go ahead okay cool and I think that right time for you to have a coffee break now because me and Tom got talk well actually my brother has all the shingles in i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i'll listen well i have an advanced that case of separation anxiety a few months ago my father

without my knowledge or consent sold one of our family car that have been a real integral part of all of our lives since nineteen seventy two october fifteen exact that has been a real integral part of all of our lives since 1972 October 15th exact and it was a 1966 Rambler station wagon the classic And actually we've been a for Rambler family if you include the junker that doubled as the Parts and storage facility and lawnmower shed where we put our lawnmowers up under it, you know? Well, Linda, you are right to be addressing this entirely to my brother.

And to tell you the truth, I think I'm going to be sick. Well, you know, I hesitate. I knew this was a sore subject and stuff, but I mean, y'all are my last hope, okay? I was talking to my mom and she not a key that cap unique professional help and i don't know and i don't think that that well anyway i've got all the great thing about new age friend said that i'll pay with the got it in the trade in a way you're not going to happen

people play for the waterfall and i'm not always drive the rambler to get there you know i think that terrible and bad enough he sold the car, right? But he sold it to the son of his next-door neighbor. So I have to see the car, you know, with somebody else driving it. Worse than that, you're gonna see that moron teenager rack it up and turn it into mush. Oh, have I got news for you? I'll tell you a story here. Okay, so he sold it for $150 and even my dad got

cold feet and went back and bought the car back, you know. Yeah, I'm serious, it's bad for the whole family. And then he just said, okay, this is ridiculous. And so he bought, he sold the car back to the guy. But if I knew the thing was for sale, I'd have bought it. Exactly. I mean, how could he have done it without discussing it with you on the other hand consider the fact that that you are Giving to someone else right enjoyment. I mean in a way You know better than that Driving this rambler to pieces and with Pearl Jam coming out the back I mean really I mean Pearl Jam is okay. My brother doesn't understand this.

He doesn't understand it. But and you knew that I was because whatever enjoyment that teenage kid is going to get out of this car. You know that in six months he's going to sell it for 10 bucks or he's going to rack it up. Whereas for you your whole life is wrapped up in this car. Oh, the whole thing. And to think that a teenage boy has the power to wreck your memory.

I hate to make a pretty obvious recommendation, but why don't you approach this teenage boy There you go. with a used firebird? Oh. And swap him even. Well, no, I'm ready to really, I have four brothers and you know how... Lay a beaten on them. No, I have three brothers. What am I saying? I got three brothers. But you know how little boys, when they're playing army and they can make all those great gun sounds?

Yeah. I've got one brother who can make the exact sound of the rambler going down the road. I mean the exact sound. But you know, I need closure and I... You do. But I think I have to mean the exact sound. But you know I need closure and I do but I think I have to have the body back. Well I think you need to resort to aromatherapy. Really? Oh okay. You could somehow recapture all of the sensory things that are your nostalgia. What the car smelled like. Oh that's gonna be a tough one. What the car felt like. Yeah. What other senses do we have? What the car looked like. what the car felt like, what other senses do we have, what the car looked like.

All right, here's what you do. You get a picture of Godzilla, you get a quart of oil, and you put it in the frying pan on the stove. You get the look, the smell. We got the sound, her brother can tape the sound. Your brother can make the sound for you. In the ride, you can just put like 75 pounds of air

in your tires in the current car and drive down the street and you'll have duplicated the entire essence of the rambler and you can do this like once a week and then wean yourself. Do it every two weeks, every three weeks. Well, I think, you know, if I can make a collection between all my brothers and me, we're gonna have to just buy the car. I think so. I think you have to drive, buy it back. Now I want to just give you one final word of advice When you approach this 17 year old headbanger With that on that currently owns the Rambler. Oh, yeah I would suggest that you don't appear too enthusiastic No, I want that you you you you make your your your roadie called offer That's where the house in terms of trying to get him off the hook like oh my I can't believe my father sold you this car.

Oh I'm not even going to tell him I know who sold it to him. Don't you think that'd be the best thing to do? No no I think you ought to tell him your dad did it and your dad has been a sleazy character for his entire life and he didn't know it but this thing has bad oil pressure etc etc and you'd like to give him his money back. This feels good. I'm feeling more comfortable. Scan him out of it, in other words. And you're gonna... If that doesn't work, bring your brothers along and beat them up. Oh, we will. I mean, we will. I know you will.

Well, we will. We sure will. Yeah, well, good luck. And don't try any rough stuff unless you have to. I'll try not. Y'all come on down to Blacksburg. We'll get a bottle pop, and send me your look at traffic, goodbye.

Oh, yes. See ya, Linda. Okay, bye-bye. Okay. Bye bye. Bye. Right after these messages, you'll hear more calls coming right up. Black perspectives haven't always been centered in the telling of America's story. Now we're taking center stage. Introducing NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths,

a collection of black-led stories from NPR's podcasts. Search NPR Black Stories, Black Truths wherever you get your podcasts. This is my voice. It can tell you a lot about me, and I'm not changing it for anyone. In NPR's Black Stories, Black Truths, you'll find a collection of NPR episodes centered on the Black experience. Search NPR Black Stories, Black Truths, wherever you get podcasts.

When voters talk during an election season, we listen. We ask questions, we follow up, and we bring you along to hear what we learned. Get closer to the issues, the people, and your vote at the NPR Elections Hub. Visit npr.org slash elections. The Republican National Convention is happening this week and the NPR Politics Podcast takes you there. We're on the ground in Milwaukee with analysis, recaps, and coverage of what happens every night of the RNC.

Listen to the NPR Politics Podcast. We'll be right back. You're listening to Car Talk on National Public Radio with us clicking clack to Tappet brothers and we're here to discuss cars Car repair and the scholastic aptitude test I mean, I always thought it was called a scholastic aptitude test until it's gonna take some convincing to change my mind So go ahead. I I don't know how reliable this information is All I know is I was as you know, the SAT, all those guys out there in Princeton, they published some new statistics the other day. ETS guys. Yeah, the ETS guys.

They're a bunch of sleazeballs anyway, we know that. But that's beside- You have to get sued by everybody, I mean everybody. Look at the scam they have perpetrated on the American public for the last 50 years. They get every darn kid in the world to give them 25 bucks to take the stupid test. They keep changing it. It doesn't mean... You know what they did recently? They said, everyone gets 100 points for nothing. Why? Because everyone's scores were going so low that they said, well, gee, they can't

be that stupid. Let's give them a hundred points for doing nothing. All right Yeah, I could have gotten a 520 in the math if I had really worked at it. In any event, the newspapers all carry the story about all these new numbers whatever they were and they referred to the student aptitude test And I said, what the heck is that? The student aptitude test. I think they've changed the name. Is that possible? Wow. Maybe I see what it is now.

Because the scores were getting so low, there was nothing scholastic about this. All they could claim was that students had taken the test. They're morons, and they're stupid. So they're not measuring scholasticity anymore. They're not measuring scholasticity. They're just measuring whatever the students moron. I mean, they're called the MAT, the Moron Aptitude Test, which is what it's coming out to be.

That's all I have to say on that subject. I tell you what, now that you got that off your chest, we're talking about a few cars that we've driven, I know that you won't rant and rave about any of these cars, but I will do a mini rant about one of them. Yeah, which cars you want to talk about? Well, we've recently been driving the Mustang Convertible, the Mustang GT Convertible. Yes, it's been convertible week. We've also driven the Z3 BMW. This is the James Bond car. In the SL320 Mercedes convertible. I love the Z3. It was an immense amount of fun to drive.

I, it's not a car I would care to drive every day of the year. No, huh? Well, not unless I lived in Honduras. I wouldn't want to drive it in the winter necessarily. It's also, you know, it's, it's a small car, but it is a wonderful summer car. There's no question about that. Awesome. It is awesome.

It was. Awesome is the only word to describe the Z3. The Mustang I liked very much. Actually the Mustang is like mid twenties. It's powerful. It's awesome. Awesome is the only word to describe the Z3. The Mustang I liked very much. Actually, the Mustang is like mid-20s. It's powerful, it's quiet, it's smooth, it rides well, and it's comfortable. Which brings me to the third car on the list, the SL320 Mercedes. What does that cost? Is that like 90?

90. It might be in the low 80s and partly cloudy. We don't know what it cost, we didn't investigate it because I figure anyone that's going to be looking at this car can't be concerned with the price whatsoever. I wish I mentioned this is sort of the cheap version of the 500 or 600 which you can now get and those cost. This is the poor man's version. If you weren't poor when you started out

You will be after you paid for it. You don't want to pay on it in 25 to 130 grand You can buy the 320 and it was I mean, it's luxurious. It is Impeccably assembled the top is is um, it is an engineering marvel You press one button the windows go down the boot opens up, it spills your coffee, cleans up the mess. I mean, it is, the car is just... Opens the trunk, gets your umbrella, everything happens. Shines your shoes, I mean, it did everything. The car was magnificent, except for one minor flaw. What?

My wife and I drove the car recently from Boston to Cape Cod and then back the next day. Upon arriving at Cape Cod, both of us got out of the car like we had been sitting in the car for 12 hours. My back hurt, my butt hurt, my legs were asleep and so were my wife's. After a two-hour ride in the car and I told our son Andrew and he said well of course he said this car isn't designed. This is a swingers car. It's not designed for old goats like you with fat butts. I said but people like us with old goats with fat butts are the only ones that can afford a car like this. They want to design it for people like us. I found the seat

uncomfortable. The Mustang seat and the BMW seat were much more comfortable because I took that those two cars on exactly the same trip. Wow what a skating indictment. Well hey you got to tell truth. The seat was lousy, and they should make the seat more comfortable. Especially for fat butts. Yeah, I got big bones in my butt. Big bones in your butt. Do I look fat to you?

No, but you got big bones. Okay, now it's time to get very serious here. Do I look fat to you?'ll regret it, I'm sure. Here it is. Our friend Ronnie was asked by his brother to take care of his house while he was on vacation. He said, I'm going to be gone for a couple of weeks. He said, go water the plants and make sure no one's broken into the house. I said, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, don't worry.

So his brother takes off for vacation and he goes over the first day and he checks it out and while he's there, he waters the plants. They look alright. He's on his way out and he says, oh, a haircut isn't needed. I need a haircut. He goes and uses the bathroom and he leaves. He returns about 11 days later. To water the plants, which are now dead. I don't know what happened to your plants. And he enters the house, he waters the plants and as he's getting ready to leave, he hears

water running. Uh oh. And he says, hmm, I wonder where that's coming from. And he finally goes to that bathroom. And indeed, the toilet has been running for 11 days. And he flicks the handle a few times, and of course, everything's fixed and he's ready to leave. And again, as he's ready to leave, he notices that there's water on the floor.

On the floor? On the floor. The toilet has been leaking. Yeah. In fact, he estimated that there were several gallons of water on the floor. Several gallons of water. But his examination of the, of the premises was unable to determine what in fact was wrong with the toilet.

His brother calls a plumber and he determines that there is nothing wrong with the toilet or the plumbing whatsoever. Wow. Yeah. Where did the three gallons of water, three plus gallons of water, come from? Good enough? Oh, that's good. Now, if you think you know the answer or have a funny wrong answer, send it to us at Puzzler

Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City, Math, 02238, or email it to us from the Talk to Car Talk section of CarTalk.com. And if we choose your correct answer as the winner next week, and your lawyer calls our lawyer, we'll send you a Chad's House of Croissant. Oh no! Car Talk t-shirt. This is the new design of the t-shirt. Well, explain how it became the new design.

And it became the new design by the people who voted for it on the website, Cartalk.com. It's just like people voting. And I'm thrilled at the choice that they made. It is the democratic electoral process at work. It is the very foundation of our society. Where's Karl Marx when you really need him? Hahahaha Well, that's good. So you don't want to say anything else about it, that's good. So you don't want to say anything else about it? That's it. Anyway, if you win, you'll be getting one

of these Chad's house of croissant. Whoopee. Or is it croissants? Yeah. What it looks like is, uh, it's kind of like a puke green, right? It's a blue t-shirt. It says, has written on it in bold letters, Chad's House of Croissant.

It's crossed out with a big X and under it. Above it, it says Car Talk and under it, it says NPR. This is the way a t-shirt ought to evolve, you know, it starts from one thing and it turns into another. Exactly right, and Chad's happen to have a lot of these left over. That's right, Chad's one of them. And we got a great price on them, so if you don't like it, tough. Anyway, if you'd like to call us with a question about your car, the number is 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Bill Chesnut from Pleasant Plains, Illinois. Bill. Pleasant Plains, Illinois. Right. Gee, you know, you're on Car Talk. This is Bill Chesnut from Pleasant Plains, Illinois.

Bill, Pleasant Plains, Illinois. Right. Gee, you know, you sound a little bit like Tom Baudet. Oh, no. Oh, no. Just say this, we'll leave the light on for you. We'll leave the light on for you. Oh, very good.

You're hired. You can be his body double. So, what's up, Bill? I've got a question for you guys. I listened to your show and I heard an emergency repair involving a pair of pantyhose. I mean, set this up. A guy's belt tensioner broke for his serpentine belt. He's out in the middle of nowhere, so i took a pair of my daughter's tight

and tied him around the uh... crankcase pulley in the water pump uh... and we got about three miles down the road and the uh... tights came off now a question i've got uh... did i use the wrong color should i do you have a regular panty hose or uh... i think it takes a clean size. Yeah, what kind of a car was it? Buick century. Oh, yeah, the century and up are all queen size because the century is a mid-sized car

Yeah, you know if it had been a compact you could have used the tights. Yeah, you're gonna go for Queen size How old is your daughter? She's like 11, right? Well seven. So yeah way too small. Yeah, we stretch it out Yeah, I think so. Yeah little tights tights like that, therefore like a Tercel. So the color didn't matter? The color doesn't matter, no. Well, let's see, this was from the crankshaft of the water pump. Right. Yeah, that color doesn't matter.

You go around the alternator though, and you've got to make sure AC or DC, then you could run into trouble there. You're right, the tights wouldn't have fit. On the plus side she wasn't real happy when I took them off of her but she got over that. She did huh? No that does work you know. Okay so what did I do wrong? Why did they fall off? Oh no it's well a ton of the truth back in the old days when when belts were V belts you know they were shaped like a V and so was the pulley that that trick would work a lot better

you probably have the modern style on this car where the belt is a grooved belt right and there's no instead of having just one deep groove modern belts are flat and they have a whole bunch of little grooves like three or four or five and it's tough to keep the thing in those little grooves so that pantyhose trip worked a lot better in cars like my brother's so the trick is get an old car get an old car and carry pantyhose around and if that doesn't get you arrested I don't know what will. Thanks for calling Bill. Well you've squandered another hour of your precious leisure time and indeed it

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