The Best of Car Talk - #2535: How to Stack Your Sled Dogs

Episode Date: May 3, 2025

Liz is a Maine-iac who is looking for a new vehicle for her and her 23 sled dogs that'll get them to frozen parts unknown. Can Click and Clack come up with a car that all 24 of them can fit in, or at least one light enough for the doggies to pull? 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

Does the idea of listening to political news freak you out? Well, don't sweat it. The NPR Politics Podcast makes politics a breeze. Every episode will break down the day's headlines into totally normal language and make sure that you walk away understanding what the day's news might mean for you. Take a deep breath and give politics another chance with the NPR Politics Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us, click and clack for

Tappet Brothers, and we're broadcasting this week from the Murky Research Division here at Car Talk Plaza. Yeah, Murky has been busy! We have a whole new slew. Slew is an interesting word. Isn't that the past tense of sleigh? No, slaw, coleslaw. If you had coleslaw yesterday, it's colesloo. Oh, I thought it was some ancient form of sled. No. Well, anyway, we have a whole new slew of surgery. Nouns should have a past tense. Yes.

Why don't they? Right. We could...I like the whole idea. To represent a noun that doesn't exist, a thing that doesn't exist anymore, or in the past, a noun in the past. All food nouns have... Like sled and slew. Sled and slew would be good. Food nouns all have the past tense, garbage. What'd you have yesterday? Garbage. Anyway these results were available at our website

Cartalk.com. Anyway you can now access the... That was an unabashed promo. Available at our website, the Cartalk.com. Come on! Where else are they available? Come on, this is public radio. You can't go pushing your own products. You're gonna sound like Don Imus pretty soon. How about her? Our book's doing. You can now access the repair cost of specific gears and models of cars and see how they stack up to each other and the average for that year. Yeah I happen to have some examples here. I printed out here. I actually Dougie printed these out because I don't have a printer really. He printed out if you're thinking of buying yourself an SUV sort of thing, he printed out the repair costs for a Chevy Blazer,

a Ford Explorer, and a Jeep Grand Cherokee for the year 1993. The big three, you might say. Yeah, five-year-old car. And the question is, how do these cars, these vehicles stack up for the cost of maintenance and repair? And it turns out, first of all all that they're all worse than average. It costs more than your average being all the cars in the database which is all American cars, foreign cars, all the cars and we get now... It doesn't surprise me because they have four-wheel drive which

adds to the annual repair cost. But despite the fact that all three of them are worse than average which one would you think is the least worst? Least worst what's the best of a bad? I already peaked and I'm surprised blazer Explorer and Grand Chalice I would have guessed Explorer was the the least bad no and it actually Explorer is the worst worst bad I know no they're not terribly bad because the way the charts are printed you could see these if you go to our website card talk.msn.com you can see that it shows a little bar graph and it shows whether it's a little bit worse than average, a lot more worse than average, or a lot lot worse than average, or better than average. And in all cases these things are sort of a little bit

worse than average. But the winner is? The winner is the Blazer. So the worst of the three is the Explorer, the best of the three is the blazer, and the Cherokee is sort of as bad as the Explorer. Yeah, but they're not very far apart. There's no clear-cut winner. They're not that far apart. That's right. They're all pretty lousy. If you were going to buy one of these three vehicles, you probably wouldn't have a... you wouldn't be justified in doing it on the basis of repair costs now. Here's another real surprise Wow, this is gonna knock your socks off Dougie also printed out for 1994 four-year-old car

Ford Taurus world's most popular car. Yeah Honda Accord world's most popular car Toyota Camry world's most popular car Toyota Camry world's most popular car Yeah, and now of those three Which would you say is the best in which is would you say is for overall cost by the way you can get These costs are shown not just as overall cost broken down by each systems breaks Cooling air conditioning engine electrical therefore is there for a block slatshya yeah exactly

yeah i would say that i guess those three would be the accord yeah the second would be the camera yeah and the third i think might be the torus but i'm not sure the third is the torus but you got the other two by i know that was a there was a dogfight yeah actually the camera is is the Taurus, but you got the other two backers. I knew there was a dogfight there. Yeah. Actually, the Camry costs considerably less to fix than the Accord. Really?

Yeah. Because the Camry is better than average, and the Accord is slightly worse than average, believe it or not. Mostly because, and I'm looking now at where does the Accord spend the money? Where does it fall down? Breaks and exhaust systems. Aha. And I'm looking now at where where does the accord spend the money fall down breaks and exhaust systems Aha, and so it's slightly worse than average, but not a lot

Wow I'm looking for my socks. It did knock my socks right off. I just found them and now I can finish them. It did knock your socks off. It did. It knocked them right off. Can we take a call or do something fun? I just want to say that this is exciting stuff and I want to thank my buddy Shishir for doing all this work.

Wherever the hell he may be. If you'd like to call. Whatever plan that he may be on. He ain't on, he's circling. If you'd like to call us, the number is 888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Anthony. I'm from Plainfield, Connecticut. Hi, Anthony.

I'm doing just fine. I love your show. I love your show. That's too bad. Hey, how do you pronounce your name? Milliozi or Migliozi? Migliozi! Okay, a lot of people don't do the G-L-I. Hey look, here's what my problem is Why do you have an Italian sort of last name? My name is Guglione

Guglione means Williams. Yeah Williams. Anthony Williams. That's me. Anthony Williams Hey, by the way, see if you could tell me what I'm studying in school What am I going to school? I see in your future. I see Engineering of some kind. No, I see waste management But I'm going to school for fine art fine art fine arts. Yeah, what does that mean? Well, it means, you know, I beat copper into a plowshare. What is a plowshare anyway? Well, it's copper, anyhow.

Here's my story. I've got a 94 LeBaron, you know, and it's got all the bells and whistles, the computer, the compass, and the leather seats and everything. Yeah. But it's got more road noise that you can't believe. Now my wife has got a 92 Acclaim, basically the same car with a four-cylinder. She gets tires, I buy them like Benny's when they're on sale. You can drive this car 70 miles an hour and have an intelligent discussion. So I'm saying it's got to be my tires, right? Yeah. Like I discussion. Yeah, so I'm saying it's gotta be my tires, right? Yeah, I'm driving down if I'm driving down the hill and I put the car in neutral I still hear the road noise but at good at a stop sign. I don't hear a thing The car is you know real quiet. Aha

So I'm saying I got three options one. I can put the tires on my wife's car and told her I'm giving her the good tires I can put the tires on my wife's car and tell her I'm giving her the good tires and take the cheap tires for my car. A man after my own heart. That's one option. Number two is I can tell the insurance company somebody stole my tires and I still go to the dentist and buy a new tire. So far we've got two really good options. The third one, and this is probably the best one, I want to, in the old days you couldn't

swap your radios, but I wanna take like the left front and put it on the right rear. Sure. What kind of tires, what are these tires? They're Goodyear's. They're Goodyear's with the rain groove down the middle. Oh, they're Aqua Treads.

If they're Aqua Treads, you can't swap them left and right. Oh, you can't swap them left and right? Well, you can, but if you think you got noise now. Yeah, you don't wanna do that. No, Aqua Treads have to stay on whatever side they start on. I'm dead. Well, I'm gonna suggest that something else is wrong with your car could be a wheel bearing. There you go. That's what I wrote I wrote down do you think so get on it?

Well, what other symptoms would a wheel bearing do well the wheel bearing the symptom is that the noise stops when you ain't moving Which you got sometimes it will stop if you're taking a turn So you can alter it if you go like wah-wah when you're taking a turn. Sometimes. Oh, you can alter it. Does it go like wah wah when you're making a turn? Well, yes, it can. And sometimes if you're going straight ahead and you hear the noise and you turn left or right, you can get the noise to change in volume. I can do that.

You can do that. And it's not your tires. I think you have a bad wheel bearing. You don't think I should put them on my waist guard. Well, you can. Well. I like the insur... Tell me more about the insurance company idea.

So you are in some kind of an artisanry program at your community college. Where are you? No, I retired. Oh, you're retired? I'm 66 years old. Get out. You sounded like you were 26. Oh, thank you.

I feel that way, too. I counted you for 26. I do a half I count every morning No, I retired and then I started doing a little bit of this a little bit of that So you're beating swords into plowshares. Yes. I'm making a making a copper weather vane Yeah, like three feet high the motif. Yeah, it's gonna be like nine feet high She's really it's one of my projects. Is this what my brother has to look forward to when he retires I was just thinking of you Because he's you sound like my brother my brother and get this my brother has started a new business. He's making birdhouses

Really? Yeah, he makes birdhouses out of stones out of stone out of stones You know like that? Rustic look. Yeah. Yeah, a little stones. You know, like that rustic look. Yeah, yeah. Well, little stones, you know. Little stones. Pebbles. Oh yeah, I see what you mean. There's only one problem. He's made now about five of these little things and the birds

won't go near it. The rent's too high. We're gonna make him out of copper. I do. I'm gonna make him out of copper. That's what, let me think of it. He's got a copper roof on these things. Oh dear, I'm telling you, they're works of art. They are. I have to admit, they're quite lovely. Well, maybe he could go to school too.

Yeah. I did. Try to get a university in there, you try a nice fine art store. Well, I'm gonna send him down to you. Get him out of here. Anthony, I tell you, we're ready for some collaborative effort here, you and I.

Yeah. Yeah, as soon as you get this wheel bearing thing figured out, take a ride up to Boston. Yeah, take a teammate mechanic and he will figure out which wheel bearing is gone. Let me tell you, this car, best car I ever had. I was never a Chrysler man until I read Iacocca's first book and I bought an 85 Chrysler. You did? Oh that was the Smoke and Mirrors book? It counted down to $9,000. When I finished it was $15,000. I said, book and this guy sold cars. Then I read the second book. I bought another Chrysler.

I hope you don't write any more books. I can't buy another car right now. I gotta take it easy. Hey, Anthony, thanks for calling. Hey, I appreciate your help. It's been a pleasure. Keep up there. Keep it up.

See you later. Bye-bye. No, he was...you'd want to have coffee with him. Oh, I liked Anthony. Now, before we give the answer to last week's puzzler... Bye. No, he was, you'd want to have coffee with him. Oh, I liked Anthony. Now before we give the answer to last week's puzzler. I'm beating copper plowshares. We'll be right back with more calls after these messages.

This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things and other currencies. With WISE, you can send, spend, or receive money across borders all at a fair exchange rate. No markups or hidden fees. Join millions of customers and visit WISE.com. T's and C's apply. Hi, we're back. You listened to Car Talk with us, click and clack the Tappet Brothers, and here's the answer to last week's puzzle. I remember last week's puzzle by some, I don't know why.

I didn't really ask you to remember it. I remember it though. It had to do with a tree. Yes it did. Yeah. This lovely little story was sent to us from a guy named Bob Powers from Shreveport, LA. He doesn't say whether or not it's autobiographical, but I can only assume that it is. A teenage boy smitten with a teenage girl in his high school freshman class makes his

feelings known. Overjoyed at finding them reciprocated, he took penknife to a young, hardwood tree in the vicinity and carved their initials within a heart five feet up on the tree's trunk, as boys will do. Like Tommy and Joanne. There you go. Ah, so sweet. Anyway, by senior year, the girl dumped him.

She took her diploma, went away to the big city and got married. The boy, devastated, was inconsolable. Bidding his family farewell, he took his small savings that he got from selling lemonade. Don't tell me, joined the merchant marine. Buys a bus ticket, goes to the East Coast and shipped out in a menial job on a broken down freighter.

Freighter. Oh, don't you love it? Can't you see it now? No. Not really. 25 years later, captain of his own vessel, owner of a small freighter fleet, and with a major interest in a few oil tankers. He indulges in a nostalgic whim.

Did he buy Microsoft stock? Yes, owner of Microsoft stock at 80 cents a share. And he returns for the first time ever to his old hometown. To gloat, you would imagine. Sure. Imagine his joy when he discovers that his old sweetheart is living there, now a widow. Oh. Yeah.

Her former husband had been inexplicably run down by a freighter while stunning himself on the beach one day in Hocka Poco. The freighter just happened to go by. Right up on shore. Earth's changing magnetic fields as I throw off the compass. Stuff happens. Oh, God. One thing led to another.

The flame reignited and one day they searched for their tree. It wasn't hard to find. It was big rock near the river, the tree. You know, trees don't move around much. Yeah, they say, there's the tree. There's our tree, dear. Here's the question. It had been 28 years since he had carved their initials.

Right. The tree is from high school 25 years at sea. If the tree had added 35% to its height in the first 15 years of his absence, 10% in the following five years, and two and a half percent in each of the ensuing eight years, how far up the trunk did they have to look to find the carving with their initials? Which was originally where five feet off five feet. Yeah, I Thought this was a good puzzle for all the kids all the kids doing math problems, right? Whose brains are a little bit creaky, but you know and the only ones who would get this right would be the kids in Aggie school Aggie school right right all those all all those mathematicians at MIT would get it wrong right and the kids at agriculture So I know would go that trees grow from the top and the heart that was five feet above the ground

Is still five feet above the ground. I was shocked to hear this How can something grow from the top there is no roots up there there ain't no water isn't no roots There isn't no roots up there. ain't no water isn't no roots there isn't no roots up there i mean how can that be well it's one of those mysteries you mean huh it is the tree gets bigger in girth but if a branch starts off at five feet above the ground or a carving that's where it stays it just adds to the top. There you go. To the top of what? To the top of the tree.

What if you did this when the tree was one foot tall and you carved something down at the very bottom that was two inches off the ground. It would still be there. It would still be there. Yeah. I don't believe it either. That sounds like bull of me. Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha! Hahaha!

But, I guess I don't really believe it either, but it's close enough. Geez, just take my word for it. Wow! And who's going to win our 10th anniversary Car Talk T-shirt this week? I don't know. The winner is Father. Oh. Father Mark Berland from the Sacred Heart Church in Park, Kansas.

Padre! You mean a man of the cloth is spending his valuable time, instead of listening to confessions, he's wasting his time listening to this show? No, he does the confessions too. He's got the Walkman on. At the same time, he's got the Walkman on. I'm sorry, you said what? Alright, change your oil four times a year and say three hail Mary's well anyway father You're going to win our wonderful

10th anniversary car talk t-shirt which you will get because your answer was mysteriously chosen at random From among all the right answers that we are that we had this week it like just floated up on the pile Anyway, we'll have a brand new puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show, so don't touch that dial. In the meantime, we'll take your calls. Wait a minute, I have a question. Does that mean that all the parishioners there in Park, Kansas, when Father Burlind, is that his name?

When Father Burlind comes out the same mass and he's wearing all those robes, is he gonna be wearing the T-shirt underneath? Maybe on top. Ha ha ha! Anyway, if you'd like to call us our number is 1-888-CARTALK that's 1-888-227-8255 I can't I can't do the number the other way I've been like reprogrammed slap me around a few times hello you're on Car Talk Hi guys my name is Chris

Hi me around a few times. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi guys, my name is Chris. Hi. I'm from Keystone, Colorado. Actually, I'm from Chicago, but I've been in Keystone, Colorado for the last four months and my 92 Ford Ranger pickup has been sitting on the street for four months now and I have no idea, well I know what to expect a little bit. I know it's dead and I know that I only have three tires working on it right now. So, other than the obvious, I need a jump and a new tire. What else am I going to need to do to get this thing up and going? Chris, and you're from, let's see, you're in Colorado, but you're really from Chicago. That's a problem. I'm going to go with the CH. Oh, me too. Okay, very good

yeah so you just abandoned this vehicle in color in Chicago I did what part of Chicago is it in maybe it's gone by now okay well it might still be there then yeah it is there I have had witness accounts that the vehicle... nothing is left inside the back of the truck. But the truck itself is still there. Alright, what were the conditions under which it got to be there? Well, I came out to Colorado to be a ski bum for the season, and so I just left it in front of my apartment building. Oh, you did? Yeah.

And it was running. I mean, you drove it there and parked it. Oh yeah, yeah the car was running when I left for Colorado. Oh cool. You didn't leave it running, did you? No, I turned it off and I made sure there was a full tank of gas so the gas line wouldn't freeze.

Yeah. Okay. So what's the big deal? So that's it, you don't, I mean. Now one of the tires is flat. Yeah. You must have a spare. You call AAA. They put the spare on for you. Uh huh. You turn the key. What if you don't think

I'll necessarily need to get, you know, give it a tune up right away and change the oil and. Well, I don't, it's only a Ranger. Let's not get carried away here. You're right. No, you'll find when you go back to drive it, when you do get it started, the brakes are going to make some horrendous noises. They're going to be grinding because they built up rust on the brake discs and the drums. If nothing else, I would probably get the oil changed. Yeah. And I would have them just throw it up on the lift and take a look in general to see

if anything is awful. Yeah. I mean, when it starts, don't rev the heck out of it. I mean, let it just start, turn the key till it starts, keep your foot off the gas, and don't step on the gas for a second or two. And just put it into drive and let it go by itself for a half a minute, and then step on the gas and drive and you're done. Don't worry about it.

Oh, great! So you're going back, when are you going back? I'm going back home Thursday. No kidding. Yeah. So you've been skiing for the last four months. Yes I have. What college do you teach at? I don't actually I'm a pipe fitter in Chicago. Really? Yeah. No kidding. And we had a slow winter, and I thought I'd come out, and I'd pretend like I was in college again. So there were no pipes fit to be fit,

and you had to make your escape. So you escaped for four months? I know. Is that amazing? I mean, I can't believe there wasn't one pipe that needed fix in four months. Not that she cared about. Yeah.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't look real hard for any pipes either. You said somebody else will fit these pipes if they need to. I'll be skiing. Exactly. So what do you do? You fit like steam pipes? Yes, exactly, steam. Cool. Yeah. You know, I would never have, if you had told me, I'll give you 300 guesses.

As to what Chris does. As to what I do for a living. Yeah. Pipe fitter would have been like 302. Yeah, 302. You had it down. But yeah, there's not a lot of lady pipe fitters, that's for sure. Oh, you're a lady?

Yeah. That's right. I knew that. It was Christine. Maybe I didn't make that clear. Christine. I mean, how many people would just drop everything, leave the truck parked in front of the...

You didn't even bother to drive the truck. No. You just ditched it. I am envious of you. You are quite a woman. Well, thank you. There aren't many like you around. Boy, oh boy, oh boy. And maybe next year we'll do it in Australia. Wow. Wow.

Yeah! Good for you. Well, Chris, a pleasure speaking to you. Well, thank you, gentlemen. It was great talking to you, too. I hope you're not too shocked when you have to go back to work. No, no, she's ready. But call us from Australia next year.

Okay, great. See ya. Alright. Thanks for calling. Bye-bye. Now, before we get to the new puzzler, we have to take a short break. Ah! You're gonna take one more pass at the new puzzler before you actually like deliver it no I'm gonna take one more pass at that box of doughnuts okay

Burman's ready to polish them off we're back you're listening to car talk with us click and clack the Tappert What? We're back, you're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Yeah, okay, I can hardly wait. All right. Well, I realized that I haven't really done any automotive puzzles for a long time because they're really good automotive puzzles.

So I just- Yeah, well, you haven't been to work for two months. That'll do it. I mean, you forget. Yeah. A customer who shall remain nameless called up the other day and said that a brake job we had done had gone awry.

We had done a brake job on his old Volvo and we had put on new pads and new disc rotors and it was all right for several months. And then Dick says, oh, did I say nameless? He says, now when I step on the brakes, he said, I get a rumbling. And he said, and the harder I step on the brakes, the worse it is.

In fact, I don't really feel it at low speeds, or if I step on the brake gently, even at high speeds, but if I really lay onto the brakes, I feel that shuddering in the car. He says one of those new discs must be warped and we say I doubt it. Anyway he brings the car in and we drive it around and sure enough he's right it is doing it is doing the wrong thing classic symptom a warp disc. We put the car up. Those are pretty hefty discs. Those are hefty meaty beefy discs.

They don't know cheap little Hugo. meaty beefy. Those are hefty meaty beefy They don't know cheap little you go. No, no, no, no, those are serious. Yeah you goes they get the rejects from I hop They slap a brake caliper still read Coca-Cola on some of them Anyway, we put the dial indicator on it and determined that there's nothing wrong with the disc off call perfect If you had there would be no puzzler. That's correct dial indicator on it and determine that there's nothing wrong with the disc. Of course. All perfect. If you had, there would be no puzzler. That's correct. That's correct.

Yeah. But, and we check all the bushings, because a bad tie rod end or a ball joint or a control arm bushing or a bad strut mount, anything can cause this vibration. We check everything. We check everything. We check everything. And we can find nothing wrong but to humor him. We put four new discs on. You do?

Not really, we just told him. Told him we did that. We put four new discs on, figuring that maybe one of our instruments is off a little bit. Yeah. We drive the car, of course, what? Exactly the same thing.

Yeah. Back up on the lift that goes and Hours go by and we have Ralph chained to his toolbox until he figures this out He's standing there and he's right in the middle of the car. Was he lying down? No, no, he's standing the car The lift he's standing there right smack in the middle of the car Yeah with wrenches in hand and he's ready to remove something. And I say to him, what are you doing?

He says, this is it. I know what's wrong with it. What's he going to remove and why does it fix it? Now if you think you know the answer and you feel like taking a guess, mail your answer to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3500, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Our Fair City, MA 02238, or 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 correct answer at random, from amongst all of the correct answers, you'll

get one of our new Car Talk T-shirts featuring the slogan, celebrating 10 years of bad car advice. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-CAR-TALK. That's 888-27825. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Liz calling from Lovell, Maine. Hi, Liz. Lovell? Lovell.

Lovell. Like Jim Lovell. Like lovely Lovell. Oh, yeah? Yeah. L-O-V-E-L? L. Two L's. Yeah. That's what I wrote. Yeah. level level level like jim level like lovely level or a yeah lov e l

al al to else dot that's why i wrote yeah where where in maine is that way up uh... actually in the western mountains right outside the white mountain national forest so that would make it like new new hampshire yeah north conway about forty five minutes away right got it got it but that part of the date we've done this little geographical

slash cultural survey uh... and and and always it's always been amazing to me that we have these three states main new hampshire and vermont which is sort of near each other and yet the state character of each of these states differs so markedly from the other two. And I've never really been able to understand

how this could be. I mean, the people from New Hampshire are totally unlike the people from Maine. Well, I'll tell you why. First of all, they're divided by a natural boundary. I mean, they're a mountain, number one. Number two, people in Maine are seafaring people. A whole different kind of people. Not in Western Maine. She's as far away from

me. No, no. I'm not a seafarer. I'm a dog sledder. Well, but you see, you really belong in New Hampshire. No, she may belong. They may have to change the boundary. She may belong in Vermont. No, no. There's not as much dog sledding in Vermont as there is in Maine. Right now there's been obviously an intermingling of cultures but the original Maniacs were all seafarers. They were all transplanted Newfies and other Nordic types that found their way to Maine searching for warmer climate They wanted to go someplace where it was minus 40 in the winter it's only minus

I am amazed by all this and I'm there's a doctoral dissertation in here somewhere I don't know where so Liz is that why you called us? No, no. I see now, people, they're all the same, they're all different. What's up? Well, it's, let's see. I have 23 sled dogs, and I have a Toyota pickup truck. She wasn't kidding about the sledding. No, I was serious. And I haul my dogs around in this truck.

What kind of a truck is it? It's a 1990 Toyota two-wheel drive King Cab, and um... i'll my daughter and in the truck what what kind of a truck is it it's uh... nineteen ninety Toyota two-wheel drive king cab uh... and it has for extro leave spring in the back also it's a nineteen ninety it's a it's a little mickey mouse truck it's not a real yes the only part of the night night at the mall truck yeah dog letters don't have a lot of money you don't you can't put all twenty three dogs now i put about uh... twelve to fourteen in the back You can't put all 23 dogs

All right, you put some legs pointing the middle of the dog, the leg's punched straight up. Anyway, oh yeah, we have a question. We're just amused by this, and I think it's wonderful that someone has the time to own 23 dogs. Yeah, it's cool. Well, fortunately they earn their keep, but anyway, I've had this since its birth, this truck, and I am trying to decide right now if I should hang on to this truck and put some work into converting it into a flatbed or whether I should upgrade.

A flatbed? I would convert it to a flatbed so I could put a double-decker dog box on the back. I don't know if you guys have ever seen a dog box. Of course we've seen a dog box. People ask me if I put pigeons in it and stuff like that. How heavy would this double-decker dog box be? Right now, the one I use is about 250 pounds, so it would probably be about another 100.

And then you have about 750 pounds of dogs. Yeah, altogether about 1,000. You gotta get rid of this Toyota truck. Get rid of it, what do we get? And it's time for a nice F-150. An F-150? A real pickup truck, that's what I would do. As opposed to buying another Toyota with a bigger one.

No, I think you're gonna have to go for an F-250. I don't think so. You need to go for a heavy duty. A thousand pounds is nothing! Yeah, but that's just the beginning. These dogs are gonna get old, they're gonna get lazy, they're gonna get fat. Pretty soon, these thousand pound dogs are gonna be worth two thousand pounds. No, no, they work for a living.

They work for a living. I hear them. Yeah, there's one. You want to say hi? Yeah. Say hi. Hey, say hi puppy. Oh.

Oh yes. And what do they do for a living? Can they say, do you want fries with that? No, no, no. They take people on dog sled trips. They do? Yeah. Up in Maine there.

Yeah, up in Maine. I'm gonna come up and visit you sometime Liz. Can we do it like in June, July? No, no, in June, July, in August actually. The glaciers will have retreated. I hook them up to the front of the truck and they pull it in low gear. Well, Liz, go to your local Ford dealer and go look at an F-250. An F-250? I think so. Used or no? Either. Never buy anything, no. Never buy anything? No, not if you're from Maine. Well, I try not to because I don't have any money. Yeah, no, you can buy a nice two or three year old one. Uh-huh. And it'll last you many, many moons. Okay. Yeah, then you can cut the bed off with your torch and leave

the bed in the front yard. Okay. All right. See you later. See you later. Bye guys. Bye Alright, I'm on our I list Thanks, we had some wackos today Well, it's happened again you've evaporated another hour listening to car talk our steam producer is Doug the subway fugitive not slave to fashion Berman. Our associate producer and Dean of the College of Automusicology is Ken Babyface Rogers. Our assistant producer is Katherine Crystal Ray and our engineer is Jonathan... it doesn't have the super highway, super highway sideburns anymore. No. Just so... I like them. Our engineer is just plain old Jonathan Marston. Our technical, spiritual and menu advisor is John Bugsy Lawler. Our public opinion pollster is Paul Murky of Murky Research, assisted by statistician

Margin O'Vara. Our director of new product repair is Warranty My Foot, assisted by our customer care representative Haywood Jabuzoff. Our staff butler from the Car Talk Mumbai division is Mahatma Koh. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Uppman and our staff urologist is Willatma Koh. Our document security expert from the island of Jamaica is Euripides Aptman and our staff urologist is Willa Katheter. Peekaboo Street directs our intensive care unit which is known as the Peekaboo ICU. Our junkyard manager is Ricardo Dismantlebon. Our director of moral support as you demand our sexual harassment

counselor back from a lengthy, mandatory leave is Patrick McCann, our chief counselor from the law firm of Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe as you Louis Dewey, known to the other sunbathers in Harvard Square as you Louie Dewey. Thanks so much for listening. We're Click and Clack the Tappet Brothers. Don't drive like my brother or my sister. Don't drive like my brother or my sister. We'll be back next week. Bye bye. I'm gonna go ahead and do it. And now, with a very important announcement, here is Card Talk Plaza's chief mechanic, Mr. Vinnie Gumbatz. Vinnie?

All right, now listen up, you know, if you want a copy of this week's Card Talk Show, which is number 16, the number is 1-888-CARD-JUNK. And if people wanted other Card Talk paraphernalia, you know, things like CDs or t-shirts, would they call that same number, Vinny? No, you'd call the kinder, gentler IRS, you dope. Of course you'd call the same number. 1-888-AHHH-CARD-JUNK. Or you can get stuff through the online Shameless Commerce Division at cardtalk.msn.com. 18888, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah,

ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, Car Talk is a production of Dewey, Cheetahman Howe and WBUR in Boston. And even though the president of the company considers early retirement every time he hears us say it, this is NPR National Public Radio.