The Best of Car Talk - #2507: Mom's Dream Scenario

Episode Date: January 25, 2025

Julia is worried that her Dad's retirement project of replacing the engine in his heap of a GMC Suburban is going to strain her parents' relationship. Click and Clack disagree and think that Dad's hobby is going to be just what Mom wants, too. Huh? Find out why 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

Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us clicking clack the Tappet Brothers and we're broadcasting this week from the No Idle Threats Division here at Car Talk Plaza. As you may recall, last week I mentioned the fact that, first of all I should preface this by saying that we get these test cars to drive and I've been waiting all summer for the new Jaguar XK8 convertible and I keep hearing through the grapevine, which is Bugsy Lawler, that it's coming. Any day you'll have it. You'll have it in June.

You'll have it in July. You'll have it in August. It's September. It's October. Where is it? We don't have it. I don't know anything. I know nothing.

I really don't. I really don't. Why are you looking at me like that? Well, we happen to know where Jaguar cars of America is it's in my New Jersey And we happen to know think I in charge of that little operation as a guy named Mike Dale And really last week. I said if I don't have that car in my driveway in three days We're gonna have to mount some kind of a what? An operation. A frontal attack.

A frontal attack, a little action. We need now to enlist the help of all our six listeners out there to help Tommy get the XK8 convertible. What about Tommy's little brother? I'll let you see it. You can come by my house any time you want. I'll let you sit in the driveway and go vroom vroom. The no key test drive. It would be nice if you could simply drop a little note to Mike Dale and say, gee Mike, Tom says you promised him an XK8 convertible and he doesn't have it. And then you might throw in a little, I was thinking of buying one of those $70,000 cars,

but without Tom's recommendation, fat stinking chance. Right? I mean, you might want to just say something like that. You might, you might. And Mike, if you happen to be listening, I want you to know that next week we'll be giving out your email address, which we happen to have, and your home phone number, Mike. Then demonstrations in front of MAWA 555 MacArthur. Oh, we're taking the buses down? We're going to send the buses down. Willie Nelson's coming with us. He'll go for anything. He for anything he has a million more on my mind

on my walk the more on my tomorrow but i thought it jim carter's it worth it i don't know what i thought we don't even know if it's worth it it might be a piece of junk for all we know well we're gonna have to tell everyone that is a piece of junk for all we know. And we're gonna have to tell everyone that it is a piece of junk because we haven't driven it. But if you want to call us about anything else. Or if you missed Mike Dale's number, call us at 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on CarTalk. I love making trouble.

Oh, jeez. Hello. Hi, this is Christine from Amherst. Hi, Christine. Christine with a CH? Yeah, with a CH. Christine with a CH, not K's. No K's. Or Q. I like that spelling. That's good yeah. Well that's the neo-Norwegian spelling. So what's up Christine? Are you a student or a professor or anything like that? I'm a grad student grad student in what department?

Hotel restaurant management. Oh Yeah, what so anyway, what's the nature of your call? um, well, I have an 87 Mazda 626 turbo and Whenever I turn on the heat it smells like maple syrup And it's a little embarrassing. She's I never heard it described as maple syrup. Oh yeah, oh yeah, it is rather maple syrupy in aroma. Yeah, on good days it smells like maple syrup. Yeah, it's a little sweeter than maple syrup as a smell, I would have said, and I got a bigger nose than you, I guarantee you that. That's for sure. Yeah, what's happening is antifreeze, antifreeze, which smells like maple syrup, is getting

out of its cage. See, we have to keep antifreeze caged. Okay. So we keep it in a place that it can't escape from, except that sometimes it escapes because little holes occur. And in your case, it's occurring in the heater. Okay. That's bad. That's real bad. Yes

Yeah, well, it's how long has it been happening at least a couple of years You're right on top of things She's a student student. Yeah, and you've been replenishing the antifreeze obviously Yeah, because you realize that that's what's leaking out and you knew even before you called us that the sweet smell was probably the antifreeze, obviously. Yep. Because you realize that that's what's leaking out. And you knew even before you called us that the sweet smell was probably the antifreeze that you've been losing all these years. That's how you're giving me a little more credit, but sure. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh, you thought the two things were unrelated. Well, it's good that you've been replacing it, because I was going to say that in two years you've got to be out of antifreeze by now, but you've been replacing it, so that's good. Okay. And if you don't mind the smell and you don't mind keeping up with the filling up of the antifreeze, forget it. I hate to rain on my brother's parade,

but I think the antifreeze is poisonous. And I don't think, I know it's poisonous, and I don't think it's a good idea to be, it may make you- Have your grades been dropping? It may make you immune to it, now that I think of it. You know, like the ancient kings used to take a little bit of poison, a little bit of arsenic every day, so that when their subjects gave them the lethal dose, they'd say,

Ah! It didn't work. So it may be that you're building up some kind of an immunity to this poison, but it's unlikely. But it's more likely that you are probably being poisoned little by little and losing maybe hundreds of millions of brain cells a day as a result of this. Yeah. And pretty soon, pretty soon you'll be able to change majors. And pretty soon you'll have to be an art hitch. You'll have to be an art hitching major.

You'll have to change majors. Ah, yes. Right, have you considered paleontology? Well, anyway, I would... No, this is not good you can try a stop leak compound but my guess is you're gonna need a new heater core which is going to be a few hundred bucks okay and you need to have that replaced and I would probably do it you would because otherwise yeah it's not

good to have that leaking and right in your in your brain and you won't have much of a career in hotel motel Management if you have the drool That's what happens Yeah, I mean when you come with the high menu me Christine I'll be your me to do with tonight That doesn't work Don't get it fixed before you start getting the drool

See you, Christine. Thank you. Bye. 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Jim Brown calling from Buffalo. Jim Brown. What's up?

Well, I need some sound advice. On a stereo? No, no, not quite sound. Oh, not that kind of sound advice. A little bit. I'm restoring and modifying a 1977 Toyota Land Cruiser Hmm got a six-cylinder engine in it and I'm pretty close to done Yeah, I was admiring my work with my wife Martha and I said, you know, the body's done The engine is done. The brakes are done. Now. I have to make it sound right, huh?

She gave me a dope slap and said sound right is sound quiet and I said no sound right is sound like a 56 Chevy Nomad. Well maybe not. Like a Harley. A 56 Chevy Nomad was pretty quiet actually. Well when the teenagers got a hold of them. Yeah. Remove the exhaust system. My question is what is the essence of a good sound? Why do men turn their head when one of these go by and another car will sound like it needs a new muffler? Yeah. And how do I get there from there? Yeah, there's a fine line isn't there between sounding like you need a new muffler and having that

wonderful low sort of it's not quite a growl. No, it's a resonance. It's in fact It's analogous to hearing somebody with a loud voice Or hearing a baritone sing with that richness. Yeah, exactly what that baritone resonance Especially for a landcruiser because it's our land cruiser is a man's well I would suggest in this case that you install a few Well, I would suggest in this case that you install a few resonators. Resonators. To get the resonators. And I don't know, I mean there's a lot that goes into exhaust system design. Not the least of which is considerations about how long the exhaust valves last before they burn out.

Yeah. Are you aware of that? Yeah, back pressure is a bad idea. Well, too much back pressure is no good because it diminishes power. Too little back pressure causes the exhaust gas to escape too quickly and thus burns up the valves. And I have to say that this is an art and it's even completely lost on this modern generation. You must be at least 40, Jim.

Got it. Because anyone under 40 has no appreciation for this at all. No, Jim's over 40. Oh yeah. Way over. Jim's close to 60. You know why? He'd never have enough time to do this restoration if you were in a geezer or money.

So you're close to being a geezer. You probably only have a few good years left. I would do anything you want. Yeah, forget about the valves. You go for the sound. Straight pipe. And I think you're going to have to experiment. I mean, I really don't know what to tell you.

Yeah, it's a tuning thing. Yeah, it is a tuning thing. Oh, it really is. I know nothing about it. You know how I would go about it? I would put in the standard exhaust system. And start cutting pieces off. And then I would get an electric drill. And I would start in the standard exhaust system. It's that cut in pieces. And then I would get an electric drill and I would start drilling holes.

And I'll drive through a crowded guys and see how many there are. Exactly. See how it sounds. I think there's going to be an eight-holer. Well if you look in the four-wheel drive magazines, there are all kinds of ads for free flow exhaust systems and all that stuff. You may have to spend a few thousand bucks and buy some stuff and try it out. I was thinking of doing it himself, though.

Well, he's going to do it himself. He's going to buy mufflers and pipes and whatever. Don't drill any holes. You weren't taking my brother seriously. No. No, no. Oh, you weren't. No, you've got to buy some of these aftermarket systems and I'm sure you'll find something that you can adapt to this thing. Very cool. Good luck, Jim. I'll call you up one day.

All right. It's a heck of a good question, Jim. Enjoy. Enjoy your Land Cruiser. I will. And your retirement. And your retirement, right. Thanks, guys. Bye-bye. Say hello to your mom. All right. Okay, bye-bye. Bye bye. All right. Guess what? The puzzler answer and more calls are coming up right after this. This message comes from Wise, the app for doing things and other currencies, sending or spending money abroad. Hidden fees may be taking a cut. With Wise, you can convert between up to 40 currencies

at the mid-market exchange rate. Visit WISE.com. TNCs apply. Hey, guess what it's time for? The puzzler answer. Guy loses his brakes, doesn't know what the heck is wrong. He pulls in, and man, he says,

I fixed it, I put a fuse in, and it's all set. You're brilliant. You are. You're brilliant you are you're brilliant and a week but not bad not bad that late the never

it's true okay uh... anyway this was sent to us via car talked on msn dot com from by listener dot adrian lol or and re-en ad Adrianne, I don't remember the spelling, but if it's Adrianne, it's certainly a woman. Here it is. I didn't change much. I remember that.

The beautiful young princess had a dilemma. She was in love. Now, you think I didn't remember this. I know you remember it. Of course I did. She was in love with Igor, a blacksmith's son, and a hunchback. But she wanted to marry him anyway. However,

she knew that her father, the king, would not approve. Moreover, if the king knew of their love, he would surely have the young man executed, wouldn't he? They devise a plan. They will elope. Pretty good, huh? Old plan, but sometimes works. Sadly, their plan is foiled and they are stopped at the castle gate by the guards who spotted Igor's hump And they are brought before the king yeah now the king was indeed furious, but he decided to offer Igor a sporting chance Yeah, just to make it look good it turns out he said he would take two pieces of paper and write the word princess on one piece and dodge the, I mean death on the other.

And the young lad could decide his own fate by selecting one of the slips of paper from a jar. Yeah. The two slips of paper are crumpled up and thrown into an olive jar and young Igor has his fate in his own hands. If he picks princess, he gets the princess. Death, he gets the dart. However, he knows that the king is sneaky and the king writes death on both pieces of paper. But despite this, despite this, Igor manages to win the princess's hand.

How does he manage this? Wow. This is good. Historic folklore. Folklore, and it's got a hump. And it can't be all bad. Any story with a hump and it's... He reaches into the jar. He pulls out a crumpled piece of paper.

He uncrumples it, and he reads on it, death. A big smile comes across his face. Guys, quick thinker. He immediately stuffs the piece of paper in his mouth, chews it and swallows it. Right. Dances around the room and says, oh my God, I can't believe my good fortune. And everyone says, what did it say? He says, ask the king what it says on his slip of paper oh what mine said the king not wanting to be you know revealed as a duplicit sneaking liar that he is has to show the piece of shows the

paper in his mouth and swallows it wasn't thinking quickly enough to do it shows his piece of paper that says death dart. The other one must have said the princess. Of course after they execute him they do order on top seat. Who's our winner this week? Oh we have a winner? Of course we do. Must be on one of these little scraps of paper. Here it is man. Sir Gala hat is the winner. The winner is Dave Bry, BRY from Sacramento California, and for having his correct answer selected at random from all the correct answers we received this week. Dave wins one of our brand new 10th anniversary car talk t-shirts replete with the slogan celebrating 10 years of bad car advice.

Congratulations to you, David Bryy, Sacramento, California. What a guy is David Brey. It's always a big moment for me when I can congratulate a winner. And give away another one of those funny t-shirts. Give away another one of those lousy t-shirts. Anyway, we'll have a new puzzler coming up in the second half of today's show, so don't touch that dial. In the meantime, Mike Dale will take your faxes at 201-818-0162. All you can write to him at Mike Dale, President, Jaguar Cars, 555 MacArthur Boulevard, Mawah, New Jersey 07430, and all you gotta say is, Dear Mike, give Tommy the XK8 convertible or else.

That's it. That's all. Yeah. I mean, it's hardly a threat. It's hardly a threat. give Tommy the XK8 convertible or else. That's it. That's all. Yeah. I mean, it's hardly a threat. It's hardly a threat. Yeah, and don't sign your name. You'd like to call us, our number is 1-800-332-9287.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Julia from New York. Julia? Yes. From New York in general or? I'm from Manhattan. Manhattan? Oh yeah, the real New York. Yeah

No kidding. Yeah. Well, not originally but I'm here now and you drive a car. No, no, no No, no, this question actually has more to do with my parents who live in Reno, Nevada Yeah, and they have a 1984 GMC suburban. Yeah, and Recently has become they have a nineteen eighty four g m p suburban yeah and briefly it began uh... uh... on plot like that my father have decided because i don't know why because just because that instead of uh... possibly training and are looking for another car uh... he would rebuild the fengen therefore there are a couple new engine

and he took it upon himself to put replace this engine Oh, so he bought the engine in a crate. He's gonna transplant. Yeah, he's gonna do this himself Um, he's doing it with a friend of some friends. How old is dad dad? Damn, I told dad age on the news on the radio. He'll kill me. Well do it in scientific notation Like 0.65 times 10 to the second? Is he retired? No. He's not.

Is he over 50? Yes. Is he over 70? No. No, that's fine. That's close enough. Okay. He's nuts.

Well, see, I know that and you know that. Yeah, no, actually, I don't think he's nuts. I think this is a perfectly reasonable thing to do everything he's been like working on it you work on it for a couple weekend now and that's all well we'll be back at yeah he had uh... and jim sitting in their warehouse and their own store and it was sitting there for a very long time

uh... a family got around to starting doing it and you know having problems and i was very worried about what the point in my parents marriage uh... not she i think you're all wrong here june ok why because there is nothing that your mother would like more than to get your father out of the house you ask any fs type age woman, what would you like most in the world? A fur coat? A Lincoln Continental? A Mercedes? Or get your husband out of the house? And nine women...

There's another day that goes by that my mother doesn't call me and ask me to take my father away for a couple of weeks. Don't you want your father to stay father away for a couple of days. Don't you want your father to stay with you for a couple of days? Can you do something with him for a couple of days? So there is nothing that would make your mother happier than having your father be out in the garage with his buddies, drinking beer and smoking cigars and reading books. Wiring diagrams. Actually he read the wiring diagrams that diagram that him and the guy and

their dog yeah in a warehouse oh in a warehouse so he's not even stinking up the garage with this no warehouse to do they have a warehouse that they're doing it in on the day Dave oh I'll tell you right now there are shivers running up and down my spine that's what I dream about I mean there isn't a guy listening.

I've never seen this warehouse. Don't dream that hard. There isn't a guy listening on the entire planet who isn't saying, a warehouse? A dog? His buddies? No, because you know why? Smoking cigars? It satisfies the hunter instinct in all of us guys. I mean what could be... he's hunting's hunting hunting the wild hunting the wild suburban That's what he's doing and what can be better than having your your compatriots and a dog

And a couple of Cubans the guys I'm here and they're there So I don't really know exactly what's going on except for what I am informed of. Well here's what you do. Start calling your mother once or twice a week and don't say anything about it. Just talk about the usual things that you talk about and try to notice over the course of the next couple of months whether she has a new lilt in her voice, if she's happier, if she starts smiling and laughing a lot and you know once in a while you say well how's dad? And she'll say hee hee hee hee hee hee and that's it.

And it makes, I'm going to predict it will strengthen their relationship. In the long run this will have a very positive impact on their relationship. Okay. This is great! Right, every old geezer needs a suburbia. I'm going to go out with my brother in the morning. Hey, thanks for calling Julia. Keep us posted.

I will. Bye. Bye. Interesting. Well, very interesting. Yeah. And very important, I might add. Yeah, me too.

We'll be right back with more calls and a new puzzle right after these messages. We're back! It just seemed like an hour! It was only half an hour! You're listening to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss again cars, car repair, and the Car Talk Plaza bestseller list. Now as usual I don't know who this is from but here it is. The world's shortest books like Al Gore, The Wild Years, Amelia Earhart's Guide to the Pacific. America's most popular lawyers. How about the engineer's guide to fashion? Different ways to spell Bob. How about Detroit, a travel guide? And my favorite, career opportunities for history majors and there are others but I like y'all gore the wild alright no more fooling around. No more fooling around. Let's get down to business. Let's answer some questions here. Well before we answer questions it's time for the new puzzler. Ah, yes. And, and, and, I, I, like I said, I have here a packet which contains a plethora of pathetic

puzzlers. Isn't it sad? I mean, I have to say that you have... A modicum of mediocre. The biggest pile of stuff there, I mean, this is nothing. My brother has, I would guess, a thousand pages of puzzlers that people have sent. Every week I throw away a thousand of these that I've read. Yeah.

Shay and Catherine give me another 1,500. I have called the contractors. I am building an addition on my house to house. The puzzler room. The puzzler room, the puzzler wing. Yeah, it's good. But from among those. Among those.

I have picked one this week, which I will... This is the least pathetic? Maybe not. No, maybe the most. No, actually, it's pretty good. I had to change the names to protect the innocent and I had to correct it because his answer was wrong. But that's okay.

The spirit of the puzzler lives on. That's all. That's good. Da da da da da da da da da. Some years ago, this comes from Jim Warner from Barrington, Illinois. Some years ago, I was putting my 71 BMW 2002 through its paces. Dougie should listen up because he has a BMW of this vintage.

Now I must add. He has the very last of its vintage, you know. Oh, thank God it was last. 76, right? Yes, yes. Last year it was made. Yes indeed, yes. They threw a party after that.

No, I must add that there are many cars to which this could happen. This just happens to be the one in question. But the vast majority of cars could have this same condition applied to them. Okay. Are you ready? Start again. I forgot what you said. I was putting my 71 2002 through its paces, translation driving it like a total idiot. I pulled a very hard left turn into my utter dismay, saw a huge billowing cloud of white smoke behind the car. After some time in the pre-cell phone era in a very rural location,

I realized I had to get back to civilization somehow. So I gingerly started the car and listening for ruinous noises, heard none. I began driving home and much to my amazement, the smoke cleared up. You listening? The hints are all embedded. We know that. Deeply embedded.

Yeah. I lost my place. Keep laughing. I'll find it. The smoke cleared up. Yeah. The smoke cleared up. The smoke.

Over time I was emboldened as the incident faded into oblivion. That is until it happened again. The incident would repeat itself every so often until I finally discovered its cause. Other than a few routine maintenance items, such as tune ups, adjusting the valves in the carburetor and tightening a ever loosening fan belt and

topping off the brake fluid at each oil change. I did nothing special to the car. Hmm. The question is what was causing the smoke? The hints are there. I like it. Pretty good, huh? It is good.

It is pretty good. Okay. Now, if you think you know the answer, write to Jim Warner, cause he's. If you think you know the answer, I just have nothing better to do this week. And I know there are a lot of you, just have nothing better to do this week. And I know there are a lot of you that have nothing better to do. Yeah. Send your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City, Math 02238.

Or if you prefer, you can email us your answer from our website, cartalk.msn.com. Just click on the Talk to Car Talk section. And if we choose your answer at random, from among all the correct answers, you'll get a 10th anniversary Car Talk t-shirt that says, celebrating 10 years of bad car advice. If you'd like to call us, our number's 1-800-332-9287. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

This is Mark from Exeter, New Hampshire. Hi, Mark. How are you? Exeter. Is that Mark with an R? Yes. And a C at the end. With a C?

Yes. Are you a teacher at Exeter? No. I mean at the academy. No, I'm close though. I'm a school bus driver here in town. Excellent. It's even better.

Well, I have a bit of a problem, not really mechanical, but mechanic problem that I want to call you about. Oh now I've got a lot of problems the first one was that I'm upgrading from my very reliable 1972 Pontiac Le Mans and I decided to go with an 1886 Peugeot 505 turbo. If you didn't tell me you were from New Hampshire I'd have known it... that you know if you didn't tell me you were from new hampshire i don't know well you know what to make it worse i used to live right down the road in somerville so i just moved up a while ago

now the only other two people in the entire planet that i know who drive pujos are in new hampshire and they're both related to me, of course. Well, listen, here's my problem. I got this car from a neighbor for $100.

Well, it was going to be $900 until he took it into the shop to replace the camshaft and found out there was a cracked cylinder head. So he said, well, it's going to cost so much to fix it, I don't feel right charging it for it. Here, I'll keep the first $ hundred bucks you take care of the repair bills that's it okay that's not too bad now a problem is that this car's been at the mechanics now for three months

six weeks okay the first three weeks i kept walking in once a week and said is that part in yet part in yet and he said well i have trouble finding it and then he found one and it was no good and so he had to find another one yeah and I said well listen I know you have lots of other things to do would you mind because I don't want to step on his toes if I looked for if I look for one yeah so he said no that's okay so I spent about three hours on the phone

which I know he doesn't have time for and I located a couple parts Ranging from a new one from direct from Peugeot for a lot of money to a rebuilt one From Florida somewhere for a reasonable amount money. What are we looking for anyway? It's a it's a Cylinderhead oh so then oh okay, so I Went into him three weeks ago with my little list of three contacts I had. This is not bode well. And he still can't quite get the part in. So, I want to know what's a kind of a graceful way without getting him too mad at me to ask

him to go ahead and get this part because I know I can get it three days. Has he taken it apart already? Yes, he has. Oh, you're done for. Oh, and to the make it worse i've already given him a lot of money to all all all

all your knucklehead the absolute worst thing about this okay and i made the biggest mistake of you can possibly make to a mechanic i told him i'm not really a rush yeah and because i don't have my other car on the road. Well suffice it to say Mark with a C that you have violated all rules. I mean every one of them. First of all rule number one never ever ever buy a Peugeot.

Rule number two obviously is never pay up front. Well I haven't I haven't I just I put enough down to cover the cost of the part that I know I need to get anyway. Yeah, but he didn't get it. He didn't get it because he spent that money on something else. See, he has no incentive at this point to finish the job because he's already been paid for it. Think about it. Not all of it.

What's the hardest part of any job? Putting it back together and getting it to work. What's the easy part? Taking it apart and throwing all the pieces in a cardboard box. So you've given him the lion's share of the cash for doing the easiest part of the job. He wants jobs like that every day. If he could get enough of those jobs, he would never finish anything. Right, which is why contractors, don't get me started.

Don't get started on contractors. Behave exactly the way they do because people give the money to start the job but they don't know instead to finish it. So how do I get to the bar? It's all water over the bridge as we said. That's right. So I'm stuck now. I'm stuck with the bar. I'm stuck out the money. I think you buy the cylinder head. Mm-hmm. You just do it and you bring the thing in. Okay. You say Look at Goober. I can't wait forever for you to get the cylinder head. Are you a complete moron or what? I mean, this is the number. This is how you get it. In fact, I did the process for you. Here's the cylinder head.

I'll be back tomorrow night to pick up my car. You have to. See, now this is exactly... I don't want to bring up... This is exactly how my brother handles contractors that work at his house. I mean, I was gonna say, this is exactly what happened to me when the contractor stopped showing up at my house. I mean, I had given him money and he had promised to do a certain amount of work and he just like showed up a couple hours a week. Well, and during which time my house is in a complete mess and so like you, I start complete mess and so like you I start doing things for him. I'm gonna show him how to do his job. No. And he never came back. He's gone. I will tell you from my vast experience of 25 years of fixing cars, every customer that pays in

advance, everyone gets the worst service for me and it is human nature because there's no incentive. The only reason I finish a job is to get paid. Everyone gets the worst service for me. And it is human nature. Because there's no incentive. The only reason I finish a job. Is to get paid. Is to get paid. I paid money for the parts. Somebody says, throw an exhaust system on my car.

So I go out and I spend 200 bucks for all the pieces. And then at the end of the day, the guy pays me for the exhaust system. Does he not? 750. 750, exactly. And I would never collect that 750 if I didn't finish the job. If the guy came in and Does he not? 750. 750, exactly. And I would never collect that 750 if I didn't finish the job.

If the guy came in and said, here's 750. But that's all water under the bridge. What are we going to do now? The guy's got us money. You have to get mean. You got to kick some butt, Mark. You got to go in there and kick some butt. You want him to get mean?

Mean. And get himself on the wrong side of Goober? Yeah. Because Goober has no integrity. And you shouldn't have given him five since it goober you go into your checking account And you buy the cylinder head the trouble is he can't go buy the cylinder head now mark can't because he can't pay for it Between a rock and a hard place if the bottom line is getting the car running Yeah, the most expeditious way to affect that is to buy the cylinder head.

And you're going to tell him that that's what you're going to do because he's hopeless. And you're going to appeal to his sense of dignity and honor. Which we know he has the... His gut. But maybe he can sum it up a little bit for this job. And tell him what a goober he is. Hey, Mark, I wish you the best. Okay well listen. I feel better now. Well if anything else you made me at least feel better about the whole thing about better about myself.

And don't ever buy a poo Joe again you moron! You got the right disposition for it Mark, good for you. Alright. Good luck man. thank you very much see you later now that guy told him don't be in a hurry that guy you can have coffee with mark's a great mark is a and it's unfortunate i'm gonna go look for mark axiomatic that the nicest people always advantage of exactly because the because goober said to him

jim i need some money up front and mark being the sweet guy you can tell he was a sweet guy how much how much do you need and he it to him he said I knew right off he was a sweet guy because he bought a Peugeot from somebody I mean you how could you be a mean person and buy a Peugeot so he's a nice guy he's taken advantage of and I think it is unconscionable of the mechanic that goober hasn't fixed his car I noticed how you empathize with the mechanic with mechanic right away you knew well they didn't have a moron he was I didn't empathize with the mechanic right away. You knew. Well I didn't empathize. What a moron he was. I didn't empathize. No, but you, what's the

word? Connected. Connected, yeah. Yeah. Well I know, I mean I just know, it's human nature. Yeah. He's already been paid for the job, why should he do it? As soon as I heard those numbers, 505 Turbos. Boy, you knew it was a disaster. While you've wasted an otherwise perfectly good hour listening to car talk, our esteemed producer is Doug the Subway Fugitive, not a slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Crystal Ray. And our engineer is John Marsden.

Our technical and spiritual advisor is Mr. John Lawler. Mr. John Lawler. Mr. John Lawler. No, most of those people were real people, weren't they? Yes. I just wanted to make sure. Our public, and so are these, our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician Margin O'Vara. Our director of new product repair is Warren T. Myfoot.

Our staff butler from the Car Talk Mumbai Division is Mahatma Kolt. From the New Delhi office, our blues coordinator is Mahamadan Tolmi? Mahamadan Tolmi. Oh, Mahamadan. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Uppman. And our tagging governess is Dona Dei Evalern. Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Bruppley. Our director of moral support is Hugh Deman.

The chairman of the Federal Lubrication Board is Alan Griespan. And our Leo Tolstoy biographer is Warren Pease, author of Leo Tolstoy by Warren Pease. We got an email from a guy whose name is Warren Pease. We did! Hey, it happens! Our chief counsel from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham & Howes, Hugh Lewis Dewey, known on the benches of Harvard Square as Huey, Louie, Dewey, thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tapper Brothers and above all, don't drive like my brother.

Certainly not. Don't drive like my brother in. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now with an important announcement, here is Car Talk Plaza's Chief Mechanic, Vinnie Gumbachs. Alright now listen up, if you just want a copy of this here Car Talk Show, which is number 39, here's what you gotta do alright?

Okay, you're gonna give the phone number now Vinnie, is that? No I'm gonna read the closing numbers on the Tokyo Stock Exchange you moron. The number to call is 303-823-8000. And what's the number if you want like a Best of Car Talk CD or other Car Talk things? Oh, you're a real piece of work, you know that? Thank you, Vinnie. For Car Talk CDs, cassettes, t-shirts, et cetera,

you call 303-823-8000. Or you visit our shameless commerce division at cartalk. MSN.com you're gonna need to add to that mr. radio man car talk is a production of Dewey Cheatham and how and WB you are in Boston and even though Elizabeth Arnold covers are facing shame when we say it this is NPR National Public Radio