Wow, they fooled me! I’ve been listening for a while now and never caught on. I just called the toll free number and there is no answer. I’ll still enjoy listening, but it won’t be the same knowing they are retired.
Boy am I a dumb eisel! I just wrote to the show explaining that a “Bimmer” is a car, while a “Beemer” is a BMW motorcycle. Still love the show, but feel absolutely 100 percent duped and misled. To heck with NPR! Danno
I wish they would play all the old shows from the beginning. I like old cars and learning about them. I still watch" last of the summer wine" on PBS and love it, me and my better half s favorite show.
I am fine with the “re-constituted” shows. I knew they were retiring, it was extremely well-publicized. And funny is funny, the date doesn’t matter. The car advice is (sometimes) good…lol…but the show is and always a delight for me, a smile and laugh-maker.
My guess is that it’s Berman’s directive not to announce the fact of the recycled shows. I wonder if the price the radio stations pay to air the program has gone down.
the number of stations that play the show has gone down in my area
The shows in my area are only one Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings…and I also heard they are on during the week sometime…but I don’t known when.
I’ll bet I’ve only listened to less then 5% of all their shows. I would only listen when in the car. Got my youngest hooked on the show about 2 years before they ended. So when I turn the radio on and listed…it’s more then likely new to me. Which is fine. It’ll probably take me 40 years to catch up.
For George SanHose who snidely said, “Well, I suppose you could refuse to pay the “Car Talk” bill next month.” Yeah, well, that would be the MEMBERSHIP or PLEDGE to public radio, wouldn’t it.
I feel sorry for people who call the number thinking the show continues. It’s deceptive. I listen to the show, and will always listen to the archived, but there is enough deception to go around and that’s what it is.
As to comments that it’s a no-brainer that people aren’t driving around in old cars, while that wretched cash for clunkers federal program deprived the less well-heeled of fine automobiles, and, (notice?), filled the highways with large SUVs that are far more entermtainment centers than vehicles, and that often get only 17 mpg, yes - there are lots of us driving those old cars that escaped.
Huh? What the . . . ? I’m a fairly regular listener (though I have a hard time staying awake for much of it on Saturday morning), and I had no idea about this. This is very disillusioning if this is true. Is it? You mean all these alleged callers are artifacts out of the past? And nothing is said about this? What about people who call in, with the number being given out about 70 times during the hour? Isn’t this fraudulent? Geez, the country really is going to hell and this is further proof of it.
“…You mean all these alleged callers are artifacts out of the past? …”
Yup, and this week was the call where Tom and Ray gave advice on trailer brakes - and they admitted they knew nothing about trailer brakes! In retrospect, it was terribly funny.
Still, I thought their answer was spot on!
Those aren’t alleged callers. They are actual callers. Just callers from past. Historic actual callers if you will. I think one of the Car Talk staff here said when presented with the question you pose, if you phone in now, you hear a message explaining the shows are in repeat and they aren’t taking any new calls. It would take a lot of work to edit all those phone number announcements out, and make the conversation sound disjointed, so that’s probably why they leave them in. And remember even when the shows were still being produced as new shows, they were not on the air live, they were still broadcast delayed by a day or two. So if you phoned in back then you still got an answering machine where you could leave a question and only if you were lucky and the staff thought it worthy of the show would somebody phone back. So all in all it is pretty much the same now.
@GeorgeSanJose: “So all in all it is pretty much the same now.”
Really? A show that, at its most recent, is two years old is pretty much the same as a current show? And no indication is given that its in re-runs? Now I understand why all the cars being discussed on the “show” are like 20-30 years old.
I’m kinda speechless to your conclusion, so I’ll leave you to it. I obviously don’t share it.
I’ll admit I didn’t catch on until very recently. What can I say, I listen to the podcast as I fall asleep so I only catch a few minutes before I nod off. Now a few things make sense: the new credit for “pre-recorded segments” of this episode and the fact that all of the cars being discussed are as old as mine and a recent reference to the Dart, which I know is no longer around. I’m glad the show is continuing - I kept waiting for the dreaded episode where they announced their retirement & that the show was ending. Now I don’t have to dread that anymore 
I do think they should make it clear that the show is basically in reruns so everyone knows not to try to call or to mail in anything.
I suppose the least thy could do is stop giving out the number to call, anyone try it to see what happens?
When you call, it actually informs you the show is no longer producing new episodes and directs you to the web site, or here.
Announcing the number on the air when they aren’t taking new calls is kind a cruel joke. At best, it’s accidentally misleading. At worst, it’s deliberately misleading.
What would you want…for them to send a litter to every American home explaining that the show is over.
They mention it at broadcast.
Maybe they could set it up so the phone rings at their homes and they can answer the phone and explain it to the callers.
Better yet they could contact Miss Cleo the Seer and she could give them a list of who will be calling next week. Then they could surprize the people by calling them before they even thought of it.
Yosemite
@Yosemite, what I want is an announcement at the beginning of each show.
When someone rebroadcasts a live call-in show on NPR a day or two after it was broadcast live, they include an announcement that it is a rebroadcast so people won’t try to call in. Tom and Ray, on the other hand, have been masquerading for years pretending to do a live broadcast even though the calls were prerecorded. Now that they are retired, they are still masquerading as a live call-in show. The least they could do is announce the calls were previously recorded (20 years ago). It’s literally the least they could do.
it hasn t even been two years yet, has it? the shows keep bringing new people here. isn t that a good thing? no need to be rude to them. we should welcome them , I think
I think you are blaming the wrong people here.
NPR is the one that has the rights to air the program.
I think it’s their responsibility to broadcast the disclaimer before the show.
I could have sworn that Tom and Ray do a notification at the start of the broadcast.
I’ll have to listen on Saturday.
Yosemite