NEW YORK — The chatty mechanics on NPR’s “Car Talk” are pulling in to the garage.
Tom and Ray Magliozzi said Friday they will stop making new episodes of their comic auto advice show at the end of September, 25 years after “Car Talk” began in Boston. The show airs every Saturday morning and is National Public Radio’s most popular program.
Older brother Tom is 74 years old and the brothers say it’s time to stop and smell the cappuccino.
“Car Talk” isn’t disappearing, however. NPR says repurposed episodes will continue to air every week with material culled from the show’s archives.
I was not to allowed to post a comment on the blog announcing T & R retirement on the home page (so will try here and if people want to tell me WHY I couldn’t post it here let ME know) since they pride themselves on their political incorrectness I didn’t think that (my VERY tongue in cheek) comment referring to Tom’s age would be offensive but I will be happy to remove in making a much more sedate comment. Below is what I tried to post…
Oh, say it ain’t so. Hey, you guys work one hour a WEEK, shooting the breeze, compromise for your fans, have about half a year of old shows (during summer and holidays when we have better…oops…too busy to listen) and then like hosts on game shows, tape 6 shows a day for one week, and that way you only work only one week a YEAR and you have 51 weeks of boredom, oops to travel and whittle whistles etc. I mean, you’ll probably be in a barber shop doing what you’re doing for free. I know a guy with diabetes and a heart condition who works security (no not the behind the information counter reading the newspaper kind but walking around kind and he does is for FREE as a volunteer for his church so he’s not bored!) Ahh…not to worry, like Michael Jordan you’ll come out of retirement.
Good, there’s a appeal form Jimmy Wales with his pic, on your individual Wikipedia page, thought DAMN Tom looks good for his decrepit old age, must be using a thirty old pic like I do on my dating profile (it’s a good litmus test to see if men actually read the profile were it says so or just drool over the pic!)
Well, it did get printed her (so the gods of car talk determined that if you’re a member you CAN be politically incorrect and one CAN read anything posted, giving credence to Groucho’s maxim of not wanting to be a member of any club that would be allowed to join) whilst the other blog being on the home page you can’t and us card carrying members of here can. Reading my post above, even though it makes perfect sense to me, I thought, darn, someone will read this, and think this is the way a Miss USA contestant would answer a question-LQTM!
For years you guys have made me laugh until I cried. Now I’ve got tears in my eye’s for another reason. Last year I retired and it is WONDERFUL but after 44 years in the nursing profession I’m sure I didn’t touch as many lives as you two have. You should be very proud and happy that you have so many people that love you and will miss you beyond measure. I’m thrilled for you but sorry for the rest of us. Enjoy your retirement and God Bless You.
It would be such a shame if this thing were allowed to die. I mean what would I do without my weekly dose!!
Surely, someone, somewhere can find a way to get 2 knuckleheads to talk nonsense for an hour! Surely the replacements don’t have to do the exact same thing - whatever that was.
"TOM: So as of October, we’re not going to be recording any more new shows. That’s right, we’re retiring.
RAY: So, we can finally answer the question, if my brother retired, how would he know?
TOM: The good news is that, despite our general incompetence, we actually remembered to hit the “record” button every week for the last 25 years. So we have more than 1,200 programs we’re going to dig into starting this fall, and the series will continue."
With 1200 shows to choose from, NPR can keep it going forever and nobody will know the difference…I always thought it amusing how thousands would call in Saturday morning to a show that was taped the Wednesday before…
One of the best shows on NPR, and unfortunately the ONLY show on NPR without a decidedly biased political tilt. It has been a pleasure to listen to you guys, and you will be missed.
I’d only recently discovered “Car Talk” as my local public radio stations have never carried the show when I happened to listen. Now living near Little Rock, Arkansas, I make a point of finding some reason to get in my car and go for a drive every Saturday between 0900 and 1000. I’m not sure what I’ll do on Saturday mornings, now.
Your “clean” humor has always been a delight, and I have actually learned a few things from the call-ins, despite my efforts to ignore your advice: I’m definitely not a motor-head and probably couldn’t even change the oil on today’s vehicles, the way they hide everything from easy access.
BTW–when constructing your reruns, please don’t air the call-ins only, as the news release seems to suggest. I hope you also have your “Puzzlers” archived and ready to be exhumed. The Puzzlers have been great, but your good-natured banter has been the best! You will be sorely missed.
Good luck, good health, and everlasting happiness to you and your staff.
I guess I won’t be wasting any more hours on Saturday morning. Reruns won’t fill the void. I’ll sure miss the brothers. It seems like we’re losing a pair of old friends.
I will miss them too. But “This Old House” has continued after two host changes, maybe Ray could find a co host that has at least some of Tom’s wit and humor and the show could go on. Doesn’t Tom have a son?
I was shocked to hear the news of your retirement, but even more shocked when I heard the announcer telling me about it at about 4 pm Eastern today tell me that you guys had been doing this for thirty-five decades! Thirty-five decades! Exactly how did you do it back then, go house to house examining everyone’s ox carts and then yell about it Town Crier style? No wonder you’re retiring. You must be exhausted!
I can understand the brothers making the decision to retire. When they began the show 35 years ago, the systems on cars weren’t quite as complex, particularly the electrical systems. I’ve listened to the show for the last 25 years and the show has, in many ways, become less technical, but more entertaining. Even so, the brothers do seem to be able to offer reasonable solutions. Perhaps the future successor to CarTalk will come about when there will be a USB or similar port from the car’s computer to an internet connection and the future hosts will look at the readout from the car’s computer along with the owner’s description of the problem and come up with a diagnosis.
I’ll be retired long before age 74. When I tune into the show I get the impression they retired 15 years ago.
Enjoy the retirement, talk radio will live on.
For a more profesional auto repair show I listen to Ron Ananian The Car doctor. (There will be no laughing) You’ll have to put up with a 20 minute sales pitch from the K&N guy. http://www.cardoctoronline.com/
Thanks for all the laughs through the years. Much to the chagrin of the woman in my life, I would hunt your show down during early morning weekend drives and anybody in the car with me had to endure “that car talking show”. You’ve been bright spot in many of my days, and a good measure of truth…if she is not only willing to endure listening to me banter constantly about this project or that; but, you guys as well, then it must be true love!
Thanks again for making a difference in this guys life, and I’m sure many others.
Shame but no doubt those guys deserve their rest after doing it this long.
It is my ritual to have them on while tinkering around in the garage.
Listening to reruns won’t be the same.
Maybe they should continue the show with rotating guest hosts from this forum…