The Best of Car Talk

Lee’s Lincoln Town Car feels like it wants to brake on it’s own when cruising down the highway. His mechanic decided that it’s a problem with the “Whoop Tube”. Click and Clack and the rest of us hoping to find out what the heck a “Whoop Tube” is on this very episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Holy ‘Mutual of Omaha’, Marlin Perkins! Spiders and Cats and cell phone calls from the top of a California Redwood on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Charlotte and her husband have woven a tangled web, indeed. They just adopted four kids between 10 and 6 years old and the little darlings are getting into everything! Charlotte wonders if they should buy a junk car for her little mechanics to while away their young days taking it apart in the driveway. Click and Clack relive their youth on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Leslie’s family was about to upgrade in more ways than one. They were on the prowl for a minivan when Leslie, 9 months pregnant, had a sudden, urgent need to make a very memorable impression on everyone at the local Chrysler dealership parking lot. Was the birth of their daughter sufficient downpayment on a new ride or did she have to make her case to the service manager, too? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

A merry melange of motor maladies on this end of the year episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Typically when arbiting marital car disputes, it helps to know what each spouse does for a living. Lawyers, for instance, are always right because lawyers can sue radio hosts. Physicists and other scientists are usually wrong because they’re know-it-alls. And then there are Bryologists -whatever they do. Click and Clack are just as clueless as the rest of us, so let’s all find out together on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Happy Holidays from the Best of Car Talk! We had our eye on a really ugly holiday sweater for you, but they didn’t have your size. Instead, we thought you might like to take a break from all the holiday hustle and bustle and revel in the merry misery of someone else’s car trouble. Ray has been taking car questions of late and Kyle and Chloe were lucky enough to catch him in the studio. These calls are usually for NPR+ supporters only, but in a very uncharacteristic moment of magnanimity, we decided to spread the schadenfreude around and let everyone listen in. If you have a car question for Ray, call 888 522 5478, and have a wonderful holiday season. Get access to occasional new calls like these and other prehistoric Car Talk gems, as well as about 1000 episodes of Car Talk, by heading over to plus.npr.org Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Katie is a hiker and camper but she called the least ‘outdoorsy’ guys possible to find out if it’s safe to pour her old camp stove fuel into her car’s gas tank. Click and Clack the Wilderness Brothers ‘break camp’(and a few other things) on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Diana’s dyin’ to ditch her Dodge unless our dummies can decode her dilemma: a smell so bad that it almost defies description. Hold your nose and open your ears for this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Eric has a modest proposal: Shouldn’t the cost of the $4 part that his mechanic is replacing on his car also bear some resemblance to the cost of the labor to do the job? Afraid not, piston puss! How would mechanics ever pay for their boats if that were the case? Click and Clack expound upon various schemes- uh, theories!.. on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Bruce’s son is a lawyer in Orlando, Florida who, like most of the other lawyers in the area, drives a Lincoln Town Car. Except this one is not really helping his image. Instead of looking stylish and high class, paint is falling off in sheets leaving Bruce wondering whether repainting it would even work. Grab a brush or a can of spray paint and check out this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Gina was tooling along a local country road when an humongous spider descended in front of her eyes and into her lap. She doesn’t have any questions about removing stains from upholstery but there is the matter of the hedges and lawn furniture she wiped out as she careened down the embankment towards the waterfront. Brace for impact and check out this episode of The Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Ivan was enduring an attempt to upsell him on a special oil treatment when he heard this doozy from the mechanic-turned-salesman: “We’re not the problem. We’re part of the solution.” We agree, if the solution he’s referring to is a sleazy soup of grease and jargon. Click and Clack wade through this and other messes on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Karen from Virginia has two problems: Her Ford Taurus wagon shakes something awful from time to time. The second problem is her physicist husband’s theories about the source of the shimmy. We ain’t Fakin’, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ on in this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Jessica and her mom both drive their VW but every time Jessica goes to start it she gets a shock. Is this some kind of anti-Fahrgvergnugen that only Jessica has to endure, or is their another possible answer? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Paula from Virginia mostly wanted help with her Toyota Camry but, as a US Census agent she couldn’t resist wagging her finger to remind all of us to cooperate with the upcoming census collection. Fun ensues on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Lori’s man is acquiring old vehicles at an alarming rate. He loves working on them but, since he’s blind, he can’t drive them. Should Lori be putting the brakes on this hobby or practice kickstarting the Harley instead? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Ellen from Boston has had enough and wants to divorce her Honda. It's been in 3 accidents, vandalized repeatedly and been hit by a falling tree. Will Click and Clack agree that this union was simply not meant to be, or will they suggest some expensive counseling sessions at the Good News Garage first? Find out on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Who doesn’t like a good flush? Certainly not us. Unless it’s our $ being flushed into some unscrupulous car dealer’s pockets via some newfangled Rube Goldberg device. Ann from Colorado thinks she might be a victim and wants Click and Clack to assuage her fears on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy

Our ‘Family Planning Division’ has been busy! a few weeks ago it was Anne from Georgia playing ambulance driver with her post-vasectomy-reversal hubby moaning in the back seat. This time, Kara is pregnant with twins as a result of a botched vasectomy. Urology is a tougher racket than we thought. Boy have we got questions on this episode of the Best of Car Talk. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy