The Best of Car Talk - #2521: How to Make Your Car a Little Less Lousy

Episode Date: March 15, 2025

Rich from Wisconsin knows that his Chevy Citation isn't the greatest, but he thinks it'll be more fun if he chops off the top and makes it into a convertible with his new grinding tool. Should he or shouldn't he, and why shouldn't he? Find out 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

Hey, Sam Sanders here with KCRW personally inviting you to check out my new podcast It's an entertainment show that tries to figure out what makes the culture tick and tell the stories behind creators. We love New episodes are out every Friday wherever you get your podcasts Listen to the Sam Sanders show part of the NPR podcast network Podcast Network. 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 Center for New Year's Resolutions here at Car Talk Blotsna.

About time! Well, I make a lot of resolutions every year and I never keep them, but I'm keeping this one. I'm with you on this. And this involves Starbucks coffee. Yeah. For as bad enough, they've invaded the planet. But that's another issue altogether.

That's another issue. And we'll talk about that some other time. Some other time. But I just wanted to say, as good as their coffee is, they have unnecessarily complicated my life and probably everyone else's life too. I'm not even going to deal with the fact that they have a million different kinds of coffee, like decaf, macchia, Americano, skim ice mocha and all that stuff. Yeah, I mean don't forget they copied all of this from little cafes in Italy, right?

That's where all this came from. You go in there and what do you get? You either get espresso, you get cappuccino and that's it. Well in the old days, remember the old days when we all went to Dunkin' Donuts? Do remember that. You asked for a cup of coffee and someone would say large or small, regular or non? Yeah. Now regular, cream and sugar.

Yeah. Well, apparently large and small, they weren't good enough for Starbucks. No. So they come out with short and tall. Pretentious, but good enough. Never stopped there. That would have been, that would have been okay

with me. Short and tall is all right. But no, suddenly tall is alright. But no! No. Suddenly tall becomes medium. So if you ask for tall you get a medium. Well I didn't want a medium. I wanted tall!

Tall is what? Big! What the hell are they talking about? Well so I don't know why they're doing this. So is there a New Year's resolution in there, all of this? Well, yeah. What? I refuse to go in there and use their nomenclature.

I've noticed that. I mean, every time I go in there with you, you have a fight with some poor guy behind the counter. My brother goes in, and he says, I want a small cappuccino. And the guy says, you mean grande? No, I don't mean grande. I said small and I mean small. And he dukes it out with the guy.

10 people are behind us yelling and screaming to throw him out of the store. Now, tough. Well, here's my resolution. And I'm hoping everybody that's listening today will join me in this project. I'm gonna walk into Starbucks from now on and I'm gonna refuse to play their game.

I'm gonna refuse to use their nomenclature. I'm gonna walk into Starbucks from now on and I'm gonna refuse to play their game. I'm gonna refuse to use their nomenclature. Yeah. I'm gonna walk up to the counter and say, give me two bucks worth. And when they say, do you want tall, grande, short? Two bucks. Well, they got another size too, Venti. Venti.

It's bad enough, they gotta use a different language. Yeah, that's large by the way. Venti is very large. Humongous. Humongous. Yeah, so that's large by the way. Venti is very large. Humongous. Humongous. Yeah, so that's why. So that's it. From now on, you go in and you say I want two bucks worth.

Two bucks, let them figure it out. And if they have to fill the thing up three quarters of the way, that's their problem. Don't forget they have the smartest people in the world working behind that counter. They do. And every week there's a different group of smartest people. I don't understand at all. All right, from now on it's two bucks worth. That's it.

Okay. Refuse. Refuse. Do you use the words grande, tall, venti, or short? None of those words. When someone says, do I look short in this sweater? You say, no, you look grand. Hey, don't forget we have new nomenclature here too. Yeah, I know. See, we're doing the same thing.

I'm reading this thing that Dougie gave me. He says the new number is 888-CAR-TALK-YOU-MORON. Oh no, I got it. It's 888-CAR-TALK. That's the new number. Yeah. Yeah, this is hard. I mean, for a hundred years we've been saying some other number, which of course we forgot already. I forgot already. It's been wiped out. But the number is 888-227-8255. Yeah. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Carla from Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Carla, baby! We were waiting for you to call. Who the hell is Carla? Carla with a C?

Well you could spell it that way But it isn't Taj And you would be right Yippee that's how I did it Congratulations Anyway what's up Carla? My car was a 1987 Ford Mustang Was?

A Pearl of the Highway Yeah? And I still have an argument between my two brothers. I do not know which brother not to drive like I Can tell you that I mastered the technique. This was a standard trend. I wouldn't tell you exactly what you did shifting without using the clutch correct And one of your brothers tried doing it and? No, one of them says, yes, this is a good thing. You will save on the clutch.

You will go so much further. You will go so many more miles. You will save so much money. The other said, no, no, no, you're killing the transmission. Don't do it, ever. What's the name of the second brother? That would be Wayne.

Wayne. And what's the name of the other brother? That would be Wayne. Wayne and what's the name of the other brother? Alan. Alan. So are you making your judgment by their names? No, he just wants to know which one to call a moron and tell you that his name should be Tom. So you obviously side with Alan because you believe that you are right and that you are prolonging the life of your clutch. And I will agree with that, you are. But Wayne is right.

Note that there is never any grinding when this happens. Well I had for years, I owned a, boy this was a long time ago, an old Pontiac Le Mans. Oh, great vehicle. With a standard shift. Three speeds on the floor three Which was more than enough because it had a thousand horsepower engine But it also had a very heavy-duty clutch and I developed this disease called

left us Calphus Monstrous and I couldn't bear to shift this thing anymore was driving was driving me crazy. And I, like you, began to shift it without using the clutch. And I was pretty good at it, although there were times that I had to slow down an awful lot to get it into second gear. When I should be in third gear, I was actually in second gear and I had to fool around with it a lot. And even though I was very good at it I eventually did my transmission in you will eventually cook the synchronizers in the transmission even though you say that you never have any grinding that doesn't mean you do not you are not incurring stress on the synchronizers because you're pulling it out of a gear and it's grinding against

the synchronizer even though it's not making any noise. So if you can feel the slightest amount of resistance when you're moving it into or out of a gear, that's where the wear is coming from. That is not to say that it's impossible to do this without ever feeling resistance either coming out or going into a gear. It is possible. And I mean, again, in the interest of science, I think you should do it. I think we would want to know how long can you drive and not wreck the transmission. Does Alan have a manual shift car? Well, they both have had. Have had, oh, but not now.

Yeah, it's until the government stopped them, right? But not currently. You know, in their days of youth, when you need to warm up, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, and it is kinda neat when you're young to show your friends that you can actually shift without the clutch, and I will admit.

And they all gasp in awe. I mean, there are people who think it's impossible but we know better don't we? And we all learned on somebody else's car. If you really don't care what happens to the transmission you can just slam it from one gear to the next and it'll almost always go in for a while. But I would I would have to recommend against it. It's hardly worth it because yes, you are saving the clutch, but potentially at the cost of the tranny. And the tranny is going to end up costing you a lot more to rebuild than whatever saving you have on the clutch.

And the truth is that those shifts from second to third to fourth, those aren't the ones that wear out your clutch. The ones that wear out your clutch starting off from a dead stop and you can't do that with your technique exactly so you don't save diddly by doing this so you're doing it purely for fun all right and you're taking it but as long as you know that that's okay with us so if you want to do it tell Alan do it on his own car all All righty, well you have saved the family. The fraternal relationship here. Great. See you. See you Carla. Bye bye.

1-888-CAR-TALK or 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, I'm calling from Bend, Oregon Ben my name Ben Ben Dorrigan Ben Dorrigan yes, yeah that was good my name is Darren Hassel hi Darren hi I have a 1994 Coniston green Land Rover Discovery Yeah, and I'm I'm very much in love with this car very passionate about it And I think my wife resents me for that, but that's kind of my issue. Yeah. What happens is every time I get in to drive the car

after she's driven it, I will turn the ignition on, and immediately the radio will come on blasting. I will get blasted with either hot or cold air, depending on what time of the year it is. Usually a blinker's on. If it's been raining, the windshield wipers are going. I really feel that it's her way of throwing out resentment issues at me, triangulating with the car.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. We're reading a lot into this, aren't we? I really think we're going to have to. Whoa, boy, here's somebody who just read cover to cover his issue of psychology today. Yeah, yeah. Anyways, I guess i can do with that issue but my greater issue is is this bad for the car i've always been told that you should shut everything off all electrical systems off your father told you that didn't well i mean it's one of those theories that seems to be okay i mean it would

make sense that okay they are you pull back into the driveway after a long ride home from somewhere and the radio's playing. We're not going to leave the radio on? No. The windshield wipers are on. Shut them off.

Heater, shut it off. There is some little grain of truth. The only one of the ones you mentioned that you really should do is turn off the windshield wipers. In the event that it is turn off the windshield wipers. In the event that it should freeze overnight so your wipers don't freeze to the window. And it does do that in Ben Dorrigan. Yeah. And then you turn the car on the next morning, you're not aware that the wipers are on because

they're what? Not moving because they're what? Frozen. Frozen to the window and the motor melts. Okay. So what about the fan? No. Okay. So what about the fan? No. Okay.

I mean the theory would be that if you leave all that stuff on, then when you go to start it the next day, you're draining current from the battery to go to all those things when what you really want to do is for all the current to go to the starter. Well, the truth is that all the current does go to the starter, no matter what is on. Because as you know, when you are cranking the engine to start it, you don't hear the radio, you don't hear the heater, the windshield wipers aren't moving, because none of that stuff starts happening until you let go of the key and it comes back to the run position. Then all that stuff blasts at you and that's when you

get so angry at your poor wife so you don't think that like all the women out in America or men like do that kind of inadvertently just to upset the yeah they probably do they call that passive aggressive. Yeah. That's exactly right. Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, hon. I didn't realize that the station. I didn't realize. Yeah. Oh no, everyone does that to some extent.

And whether it's unconscious or not, who knows? I think you have to lay some traps for her. There we go. To find out how mean she really is. But in this case, I wouldn't worry about it damaging your car. Okay that was the most important issue. Well I don't think that is the most important issue but if you want to think that you will right ahead.

See you Darren. See you around. Alright thank you. Good luck. Bye bye. Bye bye. Hey hey, the puzzler answer and more calls are coming up right after this. 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 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

Hi, we're back you're listening to car talk with with us, Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers. And as promised, here is the answer to last week's puzzler. But before I do the answer to last week's puzzler, I have to mention this note we got from Richard Belikoff from, of all places, Sierra Madre, California. No! You hadn't noticed that little tidbit. I hadn't noticed that. And a few weeks ago, I alluded to, I think, perhaps my favorite movie of all time. Surely the most meaningful of the movies I've ever seen,

which is The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. And I refer to the most interesting character in the movie, I thought. The guy that- Badges? The guy that says, badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges, and I called him Carlos Bedoya but I was wrong and I was corrected by Richard who says no, he is Alfonso. Alfonso Bedoya.

Alfonso Bedoya. He died just recently, you know. He did. About 25 years ago. He was great. He was great. Anyway, this puzzler I gave with our school-age listeners in mind. Yes, I remember.

And of course, Dougie too. Here it is. Simplify the following polynomial. Or in other words, tell me the product of the following string of terms. Here they are. In parentheses, X plus A times in parentheses, X minus B times in parentheses, X plus C. You get the trend here? Yeah. Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da alphabet are z y and x in reversed order yeah so it would be x plus y and the term before there would be x minus x

oh Sonya x minus x is 0 yeah rendering the whole expression 0 0 see this is the kind of question that could be on the s a t exam yeah knowing nothing you would know that the answer is zero because you couldn't because you couldn't possibly figure out anything else so if zero one of the op one of the options you just check it off without even think well i i i was died my first saw this i had my first guess was one the second was infinity about the other was there uh...

yeah so you're it wrong twice. That's good. Anyway, who might our winner be, Tommy? Our winner might be Perry Lewis from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and it might not be. But it might be. But it might be Perry Lewis from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, and if it were Perry Lewis from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, he would get what?

A copy of our new album, Men Are From GM, Women Are From Ford, and Lawyers Are From Chrysler, a collection of calls about couples and their cars, and we guarantee you'll have it in time for the holidays. Ha ha ha! There's always a holiday. Absolutely. And this one that we're shooting for now

is Valentine's Day. Anyway, we'll have a brand new puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. While interesting, Burmese convinced us to go to this new format. He said, because if we do three halves every week, we only have to do about 28 shows a year. You know, with vacations, crude vacation time, sick days and all that. Sick days? Yeah.

I like the three halves idea. Oh yeah, we'll be out of here in no time. Anyway, don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at our no time. Anyway, don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at our brand new phone number, which is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk.

Hello, this is Sylvia from Little Neck, New York, and I have a 95 Subaru, and we're on good friendly terms. With the dealer With the dealer The car me yeah, but the two of us were on friendly terms, which kind of Subaru is it's a legacy Okay, but I have a different kind of problem I asked around and nobody seems to know and I thought of you guys and that is I Find that lately

i'm not seemed around those curves at night the way i used to last year and uh... there are dark spots that are darker than i can find comfortable you know i'm with you okay and all of them where you are and uh... but but you know what's strange i can I can read the New York Times in the morning

without any eyeglasses, but at night that's a problem. And I don't want to stay home. All my AARP folks, a lot of them, they stay home quietly, but I don't want to stay home. I don't blame you. Okay. Step out, baby. So anyway, I have noticed that some of the vans, you know, have those big bright lights, but then underneath they have another set of lights. Yes. Even some Subarus have those lights in the bumpers. Oh, yeah? Have you noticed that?

No, I don't know what kind they are as I'm driving along. No, I can tell the lights are blinding her. Yeah, okay. They are, they are blinding her. Anyway, so I have two questions for you. Number one, do those lights really help? Do they really extend the luminosity? Will they help me? And number two, can I get them installed?

We can answer all of those questions except one. Okay. The answer to all of those questions is yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, except will it help you? And I don't know the answer to that one. I mean, yes, they do increase luminosity, they do all those things. Can you get them installed? Yes, you can. But have you had an eye test lately? Yes, I have, and I'm okay.

You are? Yeah, I mean, we're gonna extrapolate from the information she's given us that Sylvia sees perfectly okay in the daytime. No, we can't say that because reading the New York Times has got nothing to do with seeing. No, no, she drives in the daytime. Oh, all the time. Yeah, you don't have any trouble. So if we could make nighttime as bright as daytime, would you accept the fact that then Sylvia would have no trouble? I'll accept that, Your Honor.

Will you stipulate? I'll stipulate that, Your Honor. Yeah, these things are called driving lights. I mean, and they come in various forms and shapes and whatever. And they will increase the luminosity. Assuming that's a word. Well, we just made it up one notch. Sounds good to word. Sounds good to me. You can go to your Subaru dealer and ask them if they can install some driving lights for you. Driving lights? Any particular strength you want to recommend? You want full strength. Whatever the game laws will allow.

Okay. And I get those put on the bottom of the topper or four or what? Well they're usually amounted, in your case they'll probably mount them above or below the bumper wherever it's appropriate. Uh-huh. The best place is you know above or in the bumper obviously. Okay. But don't stay home whatever you do Sylvia. I will not stay home. You sound like too much fun. You have just lightened the life of any number of AARP types. Okay? Thanks for your call. Thank you very much.

Thanks for your call Sylvia. Bye bye. Bye bye. Bye bye. 1-888-CAR-TALK or 1-888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, my name is Richard Herman and I listen to you guys on KUT 90.5 FM in Austin, Texas. Hi Richard!

Hey, Austin! Right, way down here where it's still warm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, don't start. Shut up! So what's up, Ritunk? Well, I have a 1995 BMW 318. I know you guys love BMWs. You're not a lifelong Texan?

No, no I'm not. Where did you move from? St. Louis. Good move! Well, I was married at the time and my wife wanted to move here. But she was not a Texan either? No, she was not. Where was she from?

She was from West Virginia. West Virginia sounds like a perfectly delightful place. She wanted to move somewhere warmer. Yeah, because you wanted her to live in St. Louis and she had more brains than that. I'm just curious. And she dumped you, which shows that she really had more brains than you. So you have this BMW. No, and you're wrong about the fact that we don't like BMWs. I like BMWs. It's the drivers.

The people who drive them. It's the drivers, okay. All'd like the mbm's it's the driver you know i've the driver's okay right is a three eighteen you said it's a nineteen ninety five i bought it new and now it has forty three thousand miles on it and it has a standard transmission and at about forty thousand miles i started having trouble with the popping out of first gear all uh... and really when starting up from a stop, the car would get up to about five miles an hour or so, and then it would just jerk out of gear, a real hard jerk. The first time it happened, I thought somebody hit me.

Yeah. That's how hard the jerk is. And have you been back to the dealer to ask them to give you a new transmission? Right, well, they couldn't figure out what it was, so they decided. Oh, bull, well they couldn't figure out what it was, so... Oh, bull feathers! They couldn't figure out what it was! What, were they all hiding in the bathroom that day? They couldn't figure out what it was!

And did they say, gee, we've never run across this before? Yeah, they actually did say that. I took the service dizer out for a test drive, and he did experience the car doing this. He said, hmm, I wonder what that is, he said. They couldn't figure out what was wrong, so they contacted contacted their rep who didn't even look at the car. He just told the dealership to get me a new gearbox. Oh good! Yeah, excellent.

So my question is, what kind of damage could this be doing to other parts on the car when it jerks out of gear? Like for example, is it damaging my clutch in some way or possibly the u-joints or something? Eh, eh. I wouldn't worry about it. No I mean if you compare this to the way most BMW drivers drive their car it's probably pretty benign. Yeah. Well you certainly didn't damage the clutch.

The clutch is not involved in the loop. Okay. I think it's wonderful that BMW is doing the right thing without giving you a bunch of bull. They simply said we'll get you a new gearbox and that's it. Good for them. I am very thrilled that they are not rebuilding your old one because that they always like to have that kind of what they call on-the-job training for their technicians and the way they provide it is by having them rebuild them and there's always that sinking feeling when you put the thing in and the customer has driven away and you find a few parts on the bench.

I wonder what these were for. Oh, these must have been, oh no, I hit the other one. But don't worry about it, Richard. Okay. See you, Rich. Thank you. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.

Good question. Be sure to stick around for more calls and the new puzzler coming right up. Ha, we're back. These donuts are great. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, talk for a while. You're listening to car talk with us clicking click talk for a while I was thinking car talk with us clicking click the tab and brothers and we're here to discuss cars

Car repair and my brother's new puzzler. Okay, here it is Do it don't know really? That is the most obscene donut I have ever only in America only. Only in America, exactly. No, it's no wonder. I mean, I don't mean this in a bad way because this is from Dunkin' Donuts. They make very good donuts. Yeah. But this is why they call us ugly Americans. Yeah. Anyway, I'll eat that later. This was sent to us by email from John Zumsteg. I don't know where he's from because you don't know where anyone's from.

Isn't that interesting? As it should be. Isn't that interesting? Yeah. He says, based on a true story, one crisp fall morning, a man brings his Porsche into his mechanic saying that he couldn't drive it more than 20 miles an hour. At that speed, it developed a horrendous shudder. The mechanic, being busy as usual, drinking his morning coffee, and eating Dunkin' Donuts,

tells the driver to drive his car into the shop, but he couldn't look at it until later that day. When the driver returned that evening, you can probably guess the next thing, the mechanic reported that they couldn't reproduce the problem, and they'd taken it on a test drive and the car ran perfectly. The next morning, the driver returns with exactly the same complaint. Again, the mechanic puts it in the garage and spends his morning drinking coffee and over billing other customers.

Again, the driver returns that evening and here's the same story. We drove it. That thing ran great. It was perfect. What's the same story, we drove it, that thing ringed, it was perfect. It was great, what's the matter with you? Yeah. And there's a bill for a hundred bucks. The third morning, the driver returns. Same story, at 20 miles an hour the car starts to shake itself apart.

This time, you ready for this? Yeah. The junior assistant deputy fledgling mechanic, Krusty. Young Krusty. Young Krusty Jr.? No. Son of Krusty. No, this was the original Krusty. Oh, the original Krusty. This is an old story. This is an old story, yeah. Oh. He hears the story, okay? Yeah. And he asks a question. Yeah. He says to the guy, you buy new tires this summer? The guy says, yes I did. Wow. Krusty says, I know what's wrong with your car. Wow. Ha! Whoopee!

Now if you think you know the answer, or you just have nothing, nothing whatsoever to do at work, like my brother, what the hell do you do all day? What do I do all day? I mean, how can a guy spend an entire three hours, eight hours a day? Ha ha ha ha! He comes home from work, I call his house at the night, and Joanne says, he's not home yet.

Ha ha ha ha! And I say, it's like seven and, and Joanne says, he's not home yet. And I say, it's like seven o'clock. She says he's at work. And I went, I don't know. I was. One of life's little mysteries. Is it? Oh, it is. But you have everyone else fooled.

Anyway, if you have nothing to do at work and you feel like taking a guess, mail your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, MAH 02238, or of course you can email us your answer, like Admiral Zumwalt here, who was this, John Zumsteg. As he did. And you can tell us actually where you're from, if you'd care to. You can email us from our website, cartalk.msn.com.

Just click on the Talk to Car Talk section. And if we choose your correct answer at random from among all the correct answers, you'll get your own copy of our brand new tape or CD or whatever that thing is. Men are from GM, women are from Ford. Or some other useless gift from the car talk shameless commerce division. One eight eight eight car talk. That's one eight eight eight two two seven eight two five five. Hello. You're in car talk.

Hi, my name is Rich. I'm from Greenleaf, Wisconsin. Rich Greenleaf? Yes. About 10 minutes south of Green Bay, Wisconsin. So what's going on, Rick? Well, I need another fact that you're freezing your butts off. Yes, we are.. Yes we are.

Yes we are. Hopefully it's temporarily. Yeah, it is temporary. How cold is it right now? I believe around in a 10 degree range and with the wind probably colder. Probably. Yeah, that's generally. Probably minus 10.

Yeah, maybe minus 10. Are you wearing or have you ever worn Bronco Nagurski long underwear? No. No? Well, you ought to. No, we usually bear it up here. You guys are tough. See, tough people that don't want to live near anyone else.

That's right. And nobody wants to live near them. So what's up, Rich? Okay, I need an opinion and I got a question. I need the opinion. I've got an 83 Chevy Cavalier at the four door Okay, I got an opinion and I got a question. I need the opinion. I've got an 83 Chevy Cavalier at the four door. We know what that opinion is going to be. Sell it.

Okay. I want to cut the roof off the top and make it a convertible. This is why no one will live near you, Pete. I don't want to drive it now, but i want to have the question earlier in the year but i never got the car and you want to do what again what's it got off the roof and make it a convertible it's a beater car and i won't do this any other

regular car that i got to know okay the wife don't like the idea me doing that she did i'm not even going to get in that thing if you cut that roof off i thought why what's the difference but she doesn't seem to think it's all she thinks it's gonna be less safe that and I also have opinions from other friends stating that if you cut the roof off a vehicle that can become structurally unstable oh there's no question about that it is not designed to have the roof cut off okay yeah I

mean don't forget I mean the roof is like holding the front to the back and the top to the bottom I thought that's mainly because of the unibody that's what well it don't any any car yeah I mean the fact is that there are different ways that they make convertibles they don't just take well okay at least we're led to believe that we're led to believe yeah take and cut the top off yeah I mean there is an alternative here I don't know if you've explored this at all but you could actually go out and buy a convertible you could sell you could sell he lives in Wisconsin yeah so that he won't have to do that conventional kind of shopping.

He wants to go shopping for a chainsaw. It's kind of like an experiment. I got a big grinder and it's waiting to eat away at me. Yeah, I can tell you're dying to do it. I mean, see, the trouble is this, that probably if you cut the roof off, the car is not going to just fall apart. But the problem would be if you cut the roof off the car is not gonna just fall apart But the problem would be if you had an accident, okay buckle up it would it would buckle up exactly Okay, and that would be I would hate to have that on my conscience because you're such a nice guy

On the other hand as I started the hand be another ticket available for Packers games hand as I started to say. Another hand being on a ticket available for Packers games. You see other convertibles, like there are Cavaliers that are convertibles. So I'm figuring they make them structurally the same but just put a hard top on. I don't think so. We hope they don't. You might be able to get real worthwhile information from a body shop about this but I would think that most of them would agree with us that it's a bad idea.

And I'm sure you can trade yours in and get a convertible if that's what you really want. But I know you want to use that grinder for something. That's the rub. That's the grinder. That is the rub. You get it for Christmas? No. You've had it for a long time. Yeah, grinding wheels sitting there doing nothing. Yeah, you know, I have a grinder myself, a big one, that a neighbor gave to me. It weighs about 90 pounds. I'm dying for something to grind. And I haven't figured out anything yet.

So you have. Well, I think you could just do it. And just look at it. Yeah, I hear you. But in the meantime, we will try to find an alternative use for that grinder for you. Okay. See you, Rich. Okay, thanks guys. See you later. In the meantime, we will try to find an alternative use for that grinder for you. Okay. See you, Rich.

Okay, thanks, guys. See you later. Well, it's happened again. Yes. You've squandered another hour listening. No, hour and a half. Three halves. 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. And we should mention a welcome to Baby Huey. Baby Huey Rogers. Yes, Ken and his wife, Gina. Well, actually, Gina did most of the heavy lifting. She did all of it. Yeah, he didn't do much.

Nothing. In fact, hardly anything. No. Right. They have a new baby. I wanted them to name the kid Roy. They made. Ken slapped me around and sent me this Christmas character. Hardly anything. No, they have a new baby. I wanted them to name the kid Roy They may and slap me around and set me this Christmas character

Our assistant producer is Catherine oyster stew ray Our technical spiritual and menu advisor is mr. John s lawler Our public opinion pollster is Paul murky of murky research assisted by statistician margin o'vera Our director of new product repair is warrantyarranty My Foot, assisted by our customer care representative, Haywood Jabuzoff. Haywood Jabuzoff. Our broadcast philosopher is Philip Airtime. Our evasive driving instructor is Vera Bruppley. The director of our automotive recycling center, AKA Junkyard, is Ricardo Dismuntlbun.

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We'll be back next week. Bye bye. And now with a very important announcement, here is Car Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Gumbatz. Now, if you want a copy of this week's Car Talk Show, which is 1998 show number two. Yeah it sounded like number two. Here's what you gotta do alright? Are you gonna give out the full number Vinnie for this now? No I'm gonna reach across the table and turn you into radio show host Bobby you moron. The number is 1-888-CAR-JUNK which is 227-5865

and what if someone wanted to buy our album which is called men are from GM women are from Ford calls about couples and their cars like for Valentine's Day would they use the same number as that no no you call a lot Toyota Jackson at the Psycho Network and ask her to beam you one. Of course you call the same number, 888-CAR-JUNK. Or you can get stuff through the online shameless commerce division at cartalk.msn.com, you know? You know, under that gruff exterior, I believe there lies a heart of gold, Vinnie. I'll heart this, will ya?

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