The Best of Car Talk - #2576: A Real Sled

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Carl from Connecticut has a long, steep driveway that’s expensive to plow in the wintertime. He’s prepared to mount his own plow on the front of his old, high-mileage minivan and give it a go. Will it work? Find out why not on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right. Learn more at RWJF.org. Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio. Well, thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be here. With us, Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers. And we're broadcasting this week from the Department of Sweeping Generalizations.

We have been at this department many times. You know, I think there's a certain wonderfulness about sweeping generalizations, and this is one of them. Well, you know what? They're so all-encompassing that they remove you from the thought process. Exactly. And as my wife keeps saying to me, your thinking is too simplistic. Yeah. What does she mean by that? Well, it's a nice way of saying. You're a dummy. Yeah, so what is the shipping generalization that you have for?

This item came to us from automotive news. Here's the headline. Dealers fume over plaid ads. Seems that car dealers in the Denver area are up in arms over a new series of TV ads. are for AutoNation. You know, AutoNation is one of those automotive super stores. Yeah. And they claim to have low-key, non-haggling salespeople. Well, AutoNation's ads apparently feature a grossly unfair in the estimation of the other deal is in the Denver area. Stereotype. Two fictitious, high-pressure car salesman. You ready for this? In plaid suits. Suits, not just plaid pants. Entire suits. I mean, what, if you're going to do a sweeping generalization, you've got to exaggerate it.

We just wanted to say that we think it's very presumptuous to make that kind of a sweeping generalization to assume that all car salesmen are a high-pressure kind of people, and they dress up in silly-looking plaid suits? Yeah. No, no, we know for a fact that it's mostly just plaid pants that they wear it. Not the whole... I've never seen anyone in the whole suit. It's mostly just the pants. I never have, and I think the Denver automobile dealers have every right to be up in arms.

I think so, too. I do. If you are up in arms about anything that we've said or you're willing to... want to be up in arms, you can call us at 1-888-Cartalk. That's 8-8-2-27-8-2-5. Hello, you're on Car Talk. This is Tom from Houston. Hey, Houston. Yeah, I know they call it Houston, but if you look at it, it's really Houston. Well, in New York, it's Houston Street. Houston Street. Exactly. So what's going on, Tom? Well, I have this 87 Old Cuddle Sierra. That my mechanic and friend has successfully resurrected from a while of disuse.

I parked this beast backwards. And when I, when I leave in the morning, I will move forward maybe 20 feet, and then I will make a 90-degree left-hand turn, followed about 30 feet later by a 90-degree right-hand turn. And this is on perfectly level. This is on perfectly level ground. And what happens with that second turn, the right-hand turn, the power steering... Locks up. It's, yeah, it's kind of like it's sticking. Yeah.

But if I keep going, it will eventually, it's like it loosens up or something, and I'm able to... To forget about it. Everything is perfectly fine, and it's fine for the rest of the day. It only happens first thing in the morning, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the weather. Now, you mentioned that this car had, are you alluded to the fact that this car had not been used for a while? Yes, that's correct. What's a while? Like, eight, nine years?

Actually, I'm not sure how long, but my mechanic found this car and it had been in disuse. I see. So you haven't owned this car for a very long time? No. Ah, okay, because we were both sitting here wondering, how could this car not have been doing this for the previous 11 years? and the answer is it was and you didn't own it then

So you just think this is an ongoing problem Oh yeah It has been going on for a long time Yeah It is exacerbated by colder weather Uh-huh You may have noticed that I don't know how long you've actually

He says he didn't notice that Well maybe he didn't notice well enough It hasn't been cold yet You want to re-noticed Tom I just want to get it fixed What do I need to do? You need to replace the rack and pinion Really

Now he doesn't want to fix it Because it sounds expensive It is expensive Yeah, it's several hundred dollars. Okay. And that's what's causing it. The Rack opinion is worn out, and millions, and I don't exaggerate when I say this.

Yeah. That millions of GM front-wheel drive cars have had exactly this affliction since, like, 1980. Uh-huh. When they first started making the front-wheel drive ex-body cars like the Chevy Citation and, et cetera. Yeah, I mean, and with all due respect, I mean, we have to say that General Motors has been very, very good about for the first seven or eight years of the problem denying it completely and then at their expense

replacing probably seven or eight million rack and pinion assemblies and now they're going to just blow you off because your car's 12 years old so you're going to have to foot the bill for this yourself is this dangerous to drive with it this way this isn't something I'm going to like run off a cliff or anything well you could see you could and that's why

I would be nervous about saying to you forget about it because it really has to be fixed because yes you who knows when it's going to not work. And with any car like this that exhibits idiosyncratic behavior, you're always worried about lending it to somebody. Yeah? Because you'd have

to give them a list of the do's and don'ts instead of just the keys. Got you. You know, God forbid you should lend it to someone and they should crash the thing and, you know. And there are no cliffs in Houston there anyway. No, no, it's pretty flat here in Houston. Yeah, it's flat, but there are cows. I mean, anything could happen. Oh, yeah. Yeah, you could

take out an oil derrick or something. But get it fixed. I would recommend you, if the car is otherwise nice, Yeah. Get it fixed. Okay. Good luck, Tom. Good luck, Thomas. Thanks, guys. All right. See you later, man. See you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. 1-8-88-car talk. That's 888-227-8-2-25-ho. Hello, you're on the air. Hi, my name's Anne. Just outside of Boston and Rockland. Hi, Ann. Where's Rockland? That's sort of south, down towards the Cape. Yes, we're right next to hang them. Yeah. And Ann, is it Anne with an E on the end or just A-N-N-N? No, it's Anne-Wenn, that's my whole name. Anne-Wenn. Ann-Wenn? Yes.

Oh, I missed that. A-A-N-W-E-N? Yes. Really? What kind of name is that? It's Welsh. Welsh? Yes, my parents are Welsh.

Ah, cool. You know, Wales is one of those funny places. Yes, it is funny. I mean, like, where is it, for one thing? I mean, every map you look at it, it's in a different place. Yeah. Well, some maps, it's not even on there at all. They speak several languages that even they don't understand each other, right?

Yeah. Yeah, sure. That's right. I mean, some people speak Welsh, and I guess half the population speaks like French or something, right? English. English. Oh, just plain English. Yes.

Not sure, but just a wild guess. And Welsh, I mean, what is Welsh? I mean, that is one of the weirdest languages ever. It's a Gaelic language. Yeah, it's weird. I mean, no one understands it except seven people. Actually, that's all my mother was allowed to speak when she was growing up. No kidding.

Yes, English was considered a foreign language. Do you speak any Welsh still? No. My parents spoke it in secret. Can you even say a few little syllables for us? No, I'm sorry. You can't. Anwen is about as much as you can must.

Yes, I can throw a few names at you. Unwin is good. Yes. Okay. So now we've got that behind this, Welsh. What's going on? And the only thing famous from Wales is the Welsh Corgi. Sean Connery.

And Sean Connery. That's it. There are a few other people. There's a who's it, Tom Jones. He's Welsh. Yeah. Ah, that's true. Prince of Wales?

Yes. Actually, he's British, isn't he? Welsh rabbit? That's Walsh Rabbit. Named after Joe Walsh. I went to school with him. Oh, he coached the 49ers. Well, Anwen, this has been very, very instructive for me.

Yes, I appreciate all the help. A wonderful history lesson to learn that the host Welshman speak English, but that's been the most revealing thing. So what can we do for you? We have an 81-240 wagon Volvo. Oh, yeah. And it runs very well. 81.

81. It's almost got 200,000 miles now. That's all? Really? I mean, that's a lot of years. Yes, it's a nice car, a little rusty in places. But when the tank becomes half full, it starts making a kind of scrapy metal-on-metal kind of nails down the chalkboard noise. This is 10K a year, by the way.

I know. That's why I say. That's not many miles at all. That's all right. It's about average. A little bit lower Okay, I'm sorry Do we interrupt again?

We did, yeah So you hear this noise It sounds like metal Well, we checked the fuel pump We had the fuel pump We had the fuel pump checked Just a couple of months ago What's to check?

It's making noise And they said there's nothing wrong with it Oh, it is If it's making noise There's something wrong Perfectly functioning You went to a non-volvo guy

Yeah Yes, we did Yeah, you can't do that And that person Probably doesn't know That this car I believe has two pumps Oh, really?

I believe so. It has another pump in the tank called the in-tank pump. All the purpose of which is to help gasoline out of the tank when it is half full or less. All less. Oh. So that if that pump is kaput,

what's happening is when the tank is full, it's easy for the pump the gasoline to flow into the main pump, which is underneath the car. It's in front of the left rear. wheel, I believe. That makes perfect sense. And then when the tank level drops, it becomes a struggle and that pump is overworking and it starts going

and then you fill the tank up and the noise goes away. Well, sometimes it doesn't. No, which means that you probably at this point need two pumps replaced. Oh, no. Yeah. But see, for many years, Volvo owners used that noise as an indicator that they were getting low on gas. I mean, my wife has

had several volvos, and they all made this noise. Really? And she would then know, oh, I must be low on gas. And sure enough, she'd look at the gas gauge, and it would be a quarter full. And that was the sign. And it was time to put gas in because that's when it made the noise. Yeah, it's better than that stupid low fuel light, which you never know. Yeah, who needs that?

But if yours is making the noise at a half a tank, that means you're in trouble. Well, and the fact that you've ignored it for so long means you're almost a certainty to need both pumps. Yeah. But that's all right. Oh. But have them check the in-tank pump. I bet you that's gonzos. Oh, great.

Well, thank you. Good luck, Anwen. Thank you. Thanks for calling. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Okay, Tommy, do you remember last week's puzzler? I didn't think so.

It's about matches. Do you like my face and your... No, your face and my... Never mind. No, no. Match sticks, and I'll have the answer in just a minute. This message comes from Wise, the app for using money around the globe. When you manage your money with Wise, you'll always get the mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees.

Join millions of customers and visit Wise.com. T's and C's apply. This message comes from Rince, who knows that greatness takes time. So does laundry. So Rinse will take your laundry and hand-deliver it to your door expertly cleaned. And you can take the time pursuing your passions. Time once spent sorting and waiting, folding, and queuing, now spent challenging and innovating and pushing your way to greatness. So pick up that Irish flute, or those calligraphy pens, or the daunting Beef Wellington recipe card, and leave the laundry to rinse. Rinse, it's time to be great. Hi, 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 answer.

So it's a last week's puzzle. Now, I tried this matchstick puzzler on the staff last week, and after they spent three or four hours looking around the office for matchsticks, I finally told them it was okay to use a pen and paper to draw the match sticks. And here it is. Yeah. We're going to make a fraction. The numbers in this fraction are going to be represented by Roman numerals.

And the numerator of the fraction is the Roman numeral 23, which is XX-111, right? Or I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-I. I-I-I-I-I-I-I. And you can, of course, imagine the X-X-X-X-1-1-I-I. imagine the xx i i i being made of what matchsticks i i can imagine that so you've got that on top that's the numerator then you take a bunch of matchstick matchsticks and make the divisor line okay and then the denominator is the roman numeral seven which is v i i i i okay then you take two more matchsticks and you make an equal sign and on the other side of the equation you put two or i i i i sir

so you've got you're ready for this you've got roman numeral 23 over roman numeral seven equals Roman numeral two. Now, it was obvious to most of our staff that this equation is wrong. It took Dougie a while to fall in with the rest. Yeah, well, he's always been difficult. So your challenge was to move one matchstick and make the equation correct. Now, you can't put a matchstick over the equal sign to make it an unequal sign. My brother tried that and I broke his matchsticks. You also can't take one stick off of an X and leave behind a slanted line. because that means nothing. You have to stick to the true spirit of the thing.

Mm-hmm. Okay? Yeah. So how can you move one matchstick to make the equation correct? Now, we're going to get a bunch of people that go, oh, man, this is bogus, but tough. Well, that's what puzzlers are all about. If the answer was simple and straightforward, it wouldn't be a puzzlement.

Now, would it? No, it would be a third-grade math problem. It would be a third-grade math problem, exactly. These are brain stretchers, man. I mean, so people who are going to complain, we don't want to hear it. Exactly. It's the very nature of puzzlement. And I think the solution is elegant.

You are going to take one away from the numerator. Yeah, so instead of saying 23, it's going to be 22. And now you have 22 over 7. And with that one matchstick that you removed, a number should jump into your head. Yes. Because 22 over 7 equals pi. And you're going to put that matchstick that you've removed from the numerator a numberer, are top the two on the right side of the equation.

Oh, man. Although it isn't quite accurate, you're going to make the symbol for pie, thus making the equation correct. And I think it's pretty neat. I mean, everyone has used that approximation. I use it all the time in my calculations. Yes. I don't like to write out 3.14159 and all those other digits.

I just use 22-7s, and I'm sure everyone else does two, whether they'll admit it or not. Who's our winner this week? Shut up. The winner is Laura Leonard from Charleston, South Carolina. I'll bet it's warm down there. Oh, stop complaining. Just shut up and read this. And for having your correct answer chosen from among the two answers that were correct that we got this week,

Laura, you're going to get a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk, shameless commerce division, and I'm sure the excitement in Charleston is just, I mean, you can feel what's going on. The entire town must be simply saying, My, Laura, you lucky kid. Your lucky devil. Anyway, we will have a new puzzler coming up in the third half of today's show. In the meantime, we'll take your calls at 1-888-Cart Talk. That's 8-8-2-27-8-2-5.

Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Catherine. I'm calling from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Albuquerque, so it must be Catherine with a K. Yes, it is. Okay, doke. All right. Albuquerque Way.

Exactly. Got it. Okay. I have a 1993 Mazda protege. And the problem is this. It happens in the wintertime. I'll go out and I'll start up my car and it's cold out. And I let it warm up.

And the temperature gauge will get to the middle, which it's supposed to be. And the heat will come on and all's well. And then if I get on the freeway or do any fast driving, the gauge immediately drops down to cold again. Plummets, one might say. It plummets. Plummets. And then the heat doesn't work. You know, just cold air comes out.

Yes. My question is, is it just the wind affecting the temperature gauge, or is it actually affecting the engine? And what can I do about this? It's an overly efficient cooling system. Exactly right. Exactly right. My brother has hit upon it, as he often does, by accident. See, cooling systems, by definition, are designed to be over-efficient, and there is something placed in the cooling system to make it less efficient under certain circumstances.

one of those being cold weather. Okay. And what you have to inhibit the efficiency of your cooling system is a device called a thermostat. And the thermostat, when the engine is approaching operating temperature, the thermostat is closed, thus not allowing the coolant to circulate into the radiator. And when it reaches what's called operating temperature, which for your car, is about 200 degrees Fahrenheit, this thermostat, like a valve, like a faucet, opens up and allows the coolant to travel now from the engine into the radiator and get cooled off.

Okay. So that it doesn't overheat. Right. Except that your thermostat opens way too early. In fact, it may be open all the time. Right. The reason it comes up to the middle when you're sitting there idling the thing for an hour and you drive it while you're in.

Well, she put her finger right on it. You know. Because you're not moving. You ain't moving. And that cold air is not cooling down the engine as much as it does when you're going at 50 miles an hour. Okay. And the reason you have no heat is because you're cooling

off the coolant so much that that same coolant which is supposed to provide you heat in the passenger compartment can't do it because it's only 100 degrees. It doesn't have any heat to give you. You need 200 degree coolant. And you ain't got it, Catherine. But the good part is this is a

relatively simple, straightforward and inexpensive fix. Now, we could have looked like, we could have tried to, we never would have looked like geniuses. I could have asked you if your mileage had dropped down recently. You'd notice you were using more gasoline because when your engine doesn't run at the right temperature, it's very inefficient.

You might even fail your state emissions test if they have one out there in New Mexico. Oh, they do. I haven't gone yet, though. You haven't gone. Don't go. But if you go now, you're going to flunk. So get your thermostat replaced for us. It's relatively cheap.

You'll have heat. Your engine will run better, and it will be right with the world. Okay. Yeah. See you, Catherine. All right, thanks. Thank you, Catherine. Yes.

You may have received the only correct answer of this entire show. Right on. So consider yourself an extraordinarily fortunate person. I'm very lucky. See you. And so are we for that matter. Because we got an opportunity to give a right answer. Now, how come people like Catherine don't come back here as stump to chump contestant?

Because it's so obvious we gave her the right answer. We should have struggled with it. Don't you think so, Catherine? Phoneied it up a little bit because I don't think the stump to chumped stumps things is completely random. No. No, Catherine immediately gets eliminated. She has no chance. She has no chance.

Catherine, make your question harder next time. Okay, I'll try. See you later. Hey, I pleasure talking to you. Good luck. You're right. I mean, we got no chance because the cards are stacked against us. No, we should have struggled more with that.

We should have asked her some questions. Yeah, and we should have said, but, geez, we're not really sure, but what the heck, try replacing the thermostat. Who knows? We don't know. Let us know what happens. Right. It might do it. Yeah.

And then when Dougie listens to the old tapes, he says, let's care. get her on back because these guys are going to look like real jerks. Not that it takes any day more to do it. If you like to call us, the numbers, 1-888-car talk. That's 888-227-8-255. Hello, you're on car talk. Hi, guys. This is Lisa in Tallahassee. Hi, Lisa.

Lisa. I've got a 74 Super Beetle, and it has got a violent shaking in the steering wheel. Oh, that's bad. Oh, it is not good. once I had about 40 miles an hour. Now, if I can make it up to about 50, 55, it evens out. You know, no more shaking. Has Klaus looked at this for you?

Let me tell you, I've had enough Klaus' look at this in town, and I'm getting all these various answers. The saga started months ago when I got a set of tires, and they could never be balanced. They balanced it to the best of their ability, but since then, since about six months ago, it has just accelerated into this terrible, you know, shimmying in the steering wheel

once I hit about 40. And you're willing to testify here before the world? You caught it. That prior to putting on these tires, you didn't have any such vibration in that steering wheel. Now, be careful what you answer, Lisa. It's true.

I am not fibbing. However, of course, I have, you know, play in the wheel, but that's since I bought the car. But not this kind of shimmying. No, not at all. First of all, any of these guys that have looked at it, is any of them Over 40? I think borderline or plus, yes, over.

Over. And some younger, so I don't know that age is any factor. Oh, the age is a factor. The young guys crossed them right off the list. Yeah. Even the 40-year-old guys are just on the edge. Yeah, you've got to go for 50. You've got to go for a geezer.

Any old age homes where you live? Listen, I wish that I could get some good, reputable guy who loves VWs, but I feel not to be neurotic, but I'm put on the end of the list. Well, they've all moved to Del Bocca Vista. It's true, and I'm up here in North Florida. Well, it isn't the tires at all. Okay. And maybe they augmented the shimmying a little bit.

But even if you had perfectly balanced tires and wheels on there, you would still have the shaming. This is a classic symptom. Oh. And these cars suffered from this when they had one of two problems. Okay. Either worn ball joints. Now, I'm sure they checked the ball joints. I don't know.

Worn ball joints. Worn ball joints. And if you have a worn ball joint and it breaks, you're going to die. Oh, no. Yeah, so you want to get that fixed. The fact that the vibration goes away when you get above 40 miles an hour is very dangerous because you will be tempted to drive faster than 40 miles an hour and you will die. Oh, dear. Okay.

We don't want that outcome. We don't want that to happen because how many listeners do we have? But I'm going to, right. And I'm going to guess that they check the ball joints and they check the thyroid ends. but the one thing they didn't check is what's wrong with it. That's what I think it is, too. And it is a misadjusted steering box. Really?

Yes, your steering box has too much play. And you actually gave us the answer when you said there's a lot of slop in the wheel. Yes. And there's a little nut on top of the steering box that they can loosen and turn a screw and adjust the steering box and make the steering tighter and this problem will go away. No kidding. They told me that they couldn't adjust the steering box and that people just live with the problem. Well, maybe they couldn't turn the screw. Maybe that's why they couldn't adjust it.

Okay. That's a possibility. Okay. But the steering box does have an adjustment. I mean, they must be someone in the Tallahassee area that works on VWs. They work. The question is how well, so. You need to go to our website.

Do you have access to the Internet? Sure, sure. Go to our website and check the mechanics files. Oh, okay. The Car Talk section of Cars.com. Okay. Then you go to the McCann X files. All right.

And you will find in Tallahassee, someone who specializes in Volkswagen and has been recommended. Right. By one of our website visitors. Okay. Who could be the guy that owns the repair shop. And it could be the guy that owns a repair shop. So we don't know about that, but at least it'll be a name. Okay. But make sure they check those ball joints.

And if they're all right, it's guaranteed to be the steering box. And in fact, if the steering box adjustment is frozen, it can't be fixed, you can maybe buy a used steering box from somebody. Oh, good. Thank you, guys. You've been a lot of help. Good luck, Lisa. Thanks, bye.

That's more than our other call as I've said today. Be sure to stick around for more calls and the new puzzle are coming right up. Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. RWJF is a national philanthropy working toward a future where health, is no longer a privilege, but a right. Learn more at our WJF.org. Support for NPR and the following message

come from the Kreske Foundation with Pathbreakers, a podcast about transforming communities through innovation, from revolutionizing higher education to supporting artists who are driving change. Pathbreakers is available on podcast platforms. Ha! We're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us,

Click and Collect the Tappert Brothers, and we're here to discuss, of course, cars, car repair, and the new puzzler. Is this one of the pairs that you had, remember you? Well, you know, I... Two and two. Yes. I had pairs, oranges, tangereens. And I thought I might just sprinkle in a few others in between the pairs. What do you think I should just go?

No, no, no. I think we're sick and tired of Roman numerals. You are, huh? Yeah. I would leap ahead. I would leap frog. I have many in the Roman numeral collection. So I won't go to Roman numerals, and I'm not even going to go to the other pair of puzzles.

I'm instead going to do an historical, folklorical puzzle. These are the best. I'm going to set the scene. Oh, I love these. Okay. I'm not sure I have all the times and dates and names and places right, but it doesn't matter. It's close enough. Oh, here it is.

The time, World War II, the place, England. In a secret laboratory, a small group of scientists, is working on a project, they have made a discovery, something that they know will greatly aid in the allied effort against the Germans. This is big stuff. Now, pay attention. This is a huge discovery. Furthermore, they know that their discovery will also benefit mankind for years to come

and could easily turn the tide of the war. Wow. In with this group is a German scientist that has escaped the clutches of the Nazis. And he's collaborating with this group. Is he opening up a soup kitchen? And they are working on a project that was abandoned by a Scottish scientist more than 10 years earlier. Yeah. And they have reignited the whole process here, so to speak.

And they are on the verge of something big. And they finally, after one disappointment after another, they finally have success. And one of them cries out, eureka. And the other one says, you don't smell so good. And they know that they have something big here, and they apply to the British government for a grant. Now, the government, of course, is in the midst of waging war on more than one continent. I mean, all kinds of stuff is going on for England. And the grant comes through 50 pounds.

These guys say 50 pounds? I mean, everyone knows it. Everyone knows us, and 50 pounds is about. half of a hundred pounds, and isn't going to go very far, even in World War II England. So they realize the only hope of getting their product, so to speak, involved in the war effort, is to leave England and go to America where they can hope to engage the help of some philanthropic organization or maybe the United States government. You're paying attention.

This is intrigue. Whoa. Man, this is great. High finance, all kinds of stuff. Yeah. So anyway, they decide to leave England, but leaving England and going to America is dangerous. Of course. Boats are out there.

Yeah, they could take the Titanic. No. So in order to make their way safely from Europe to America, they decide to go to a neutral country. Yeah. Portugal. Of course. They go to Lisbon, where they hope to catch a boat to America, which will be safe from the U-Boats because it's flying the Portuguese flag and Portugal is neutral. Do they bump into Humphrey Bogart there?

They do. Yes. And Elsa? Ilza. Ilsa. Ilsa Lund. Yeah. They go to Lisbon.

Now, Lisbon, even though Portugal is a neutral country, Lisbon is a hotbed of spies. Intrigue. Oh. Wow. Saboteurs and the like. And they know that if their discovery gets into the wrong hands, it could have dire, there could be dire consequences.

We almost see. Come on, you're interrupting so much. It's only a three-hour show. All right, we'll jump right. No, no, this is great. And another privilege. This is great. I'm thrilled here.

They know that if their discovery falls into the wrong hands, it will be severe. Yeah. So they need to hide it. They need to hide it. And they take their discovery. You ready for this? Yeah. And they hide it on, on their clothing.

What? They hide their discovery on their clothing and they make their way to America. And the rest, as they say, is history. Wow. And what is, what was this discovery that could easily have been regarded? Something that is on your clothing and is undetectable and not noticeable? Chicken soup. It's got to be mustard.

What is this discovery that could easily have changed the whole tide of the war? Wow. And was able to be hidden on the clothing. On the clothing. On their clothing. The hint was chicken soup. Wow. Oh, that was a hint?

Well, so to us. Wow. If you think you know the answer to this folkloric, historic, woe, and intriguing Puzzler, write it on the back of a $20 bill. Give me a 50! Yeah, this was too good for 20. And send it to Puzzler Tower, Car Talk Plaza, Box 3,500, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Our Fair City.

Ma, 02238. Or you can email us your answer from the Carthau. section of cars.com. If you'd like to call us, the number is 1-888-8-8-288-2-7-8-255. Hello, you're on Car Talk. Hi, this is Carl from Mansfield, Connecticut. Hi, Carl. Some of us, Carl, to see. Yeah. I think so, too. Where's Mansfield, Connecticut? We're in Northeast, Connecticut. Northeast, right on the Massachusetts-Rod Island border. No, a little bit south and west from that. Northeast Corder. Got it.

Okay. We're ready. Go ahead. Shoot. I have a house with a 400-foot-long driveway that climbs at about an 8% slope, and it's a lot of work to clear it of snow, or I have to pay about $30 to have somebody come in and plow it. Now, I have 1988-Plymouth Voyager with – oh, it's got 145,000 kilometers on it. I know the question already.

Can I put a plow? you go. Well, you can, but then you'll just get stuck with a plow in front of you. The idea would be I'd park it at the top of the slope. Well, sure. And plow my way down. Yeah. And the question is, would I ruin my transmission?

And second, would I have enough traction with just front wheel drop? Have you ever heard the expression of snowballs chance? Yeah. Well, I mean, the truth is, depending on how much snow there is. Right. On the times when you would have enough power to plow, you could probably just drive out. Right. And the times when the plow wouldn't make it, you wouldn't make it anyway.

I say. That's my guess. So what do the pickup trucks have that I don't? Four-wheel drive. Four-wheel drive and mass. Right. Yeah. They have a lot of weight.

All right. And so you need, I mean, you'll be able to get down the drive. driveway with the plow on it. I mean, if your idea... What are you going to do? Drive the plow to work? Yeah. No, you take it off at the bottom of the driveway. Yeah, sure.

Just snap it off. It takes 20 guys to get a plow off of a truck. Well, you'd summon some of the neighbors. Right. Well, if you're going to summon them, give them shovels to want to clean the driveway. Yeah, whatever possessed you to buy this house in the spring you wanted. It was cheap. It was cheap. That's right. It was cheap.

It was cheap, I know. And it stuck up in the woods. And the real estate agent said, driveway? Oh, that won't be a problem. It hardly ever snows here. I mean, we've recommended this to other people with the same, facing the same dilemma that you face.

And you might want to get yourself an old, old, beat-up vehicle. Mm-hmm. And you put a plow on it. Right. And it only has to start five or six times a year. Right. You squirt a little ether into it. It starts up.

You drive down and you clear out the snow. Right. And then you leave it down there so you can plow yourself back up at night. And that's it. Okay. Yeah, and that's fun, too. All right. You won't have any fun plowing with the Voyager.

You'd have fun plowing with an old Willie's Jeep. Oh, man. There you go. There you go. That's for you, Carl. And what's this 145,000 kilometers business? I'm sorry. What language are you in?

I misspoke. Miles. Oh, it is Miles. I used to be overseas. We did everything in kilometers. Where were you? The Sultanate of Oman, the Arabian Peninsula. No kidding.

Really? That's much more interesting than your driveway. What are you doing there? You were in the military? No, I was a water scientist, and I do the same thing here now. No kidding. Yeah, it's groundwater. What's the deal with Oman?

Is that a great place or what? Yeah, they have a tourism industry. It's one of the few Arabian countries, you know, on the Arabian Gulf that want tourists to come. It's a very interesting place and very nice people. Great, the Sultanate of Omaha. Sultanate. Very exotic. Oh, man.

And water. So what are you guys? Like, reconstit, what do you, what do you, like water isn't still H2O? I don't know. Did I miss something? He's a water scientist. Yeah, there isn't a lot of science involved in the water, is there? Are you kidding?

I'm just, tell him, Carl. I'm just guessing. Tell him, Carl. Tell him. We have to figure out how much they have so they can plan, you know. Oh, that kind of water science. Yeah. Oh, so.

So who do you work for now? Oh, I work for an environmental consulting firm here. In this country, it's all dealing with cleaning up the water. They're simply finding it. They can't find it, and we found it, and we ruined it. That's sort of true. Cool. Yep.

A pleasure talking to you, Carl. Thank you. Good luck. Have a good day. Bye, bye. Some people just go and have interesting things to do. I mean, some of us, we sit here, we do our same old job day after day. And year after year.

We never do anything exciting. Carl goes to the... Sitting across the table from the same ugly guy for 20 years. Carl goes to the Sultanate of Oman. Of Oman. I mean, I'm not how many people are sitting at their radios as we speak, saying, I'm going to go to the Sultanate of Oman myself. I'm sick of sitting here in Boise, Idaho.

Right. Doing accounting. To hell of the counting. Tomorrow, that guy will be on a plane to the Sultan. of Oman. And so of 9,000 other people. And in a week, he will have the worst case of diarrhea. There you go.

Yet another group, yet another group alienated. The Omanians. The Omanians. The Omanis. Crossword puzzle word. That's the only reason I knew where it was. Oh, boy, we've managed to tick somebody off every week. While you've wasted an otherwise person,

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