is the “fake” envelope that Tom and Ray ask to have the puzzler answer submitted on just totally made up or does it have some bearing on something going on in their life. On this week’s show they asked for an air compressor jokingly stating that they have a problem at the shop. Just curious if some of these items are part of an in-joke.
I think this goes way back in CarTalk history when puzzler answers were reportedly sent in on dead fish and over-ripe fruit. There was a time when the post office would deliver anything if it had a legible address on it and the appropriate amount of postage.
I seem to recall that a few years ago they asked for a hand-made wood bed, or something like that, and the employees of the shop where the beds were made actually sent them one. I think the bed ended up going to charity . . .