Hooniverse Asks – Click and Clack, The Tappet Brothers; Automotive Icons, or Givers of Hack Car Advice?
The brothers look and act like the National Public radio version of Cheech and Chong, although in place of roach clips and Philly Blunts, they have jumper cables and Cuban cigars. They’re Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known to the pledge break tolerating listeners of NPR’s Car Talk as Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers. Do you love them, or loathe them?
I think Americans can be separated into two categories – idiots and assholes – no wait – Car Talk listeners and everybody else. There’s either something endearing about Tom Magliozzi’s laugh, or it’s like a railroad spike being driven through your eye socket with an elephant’s ass. Ray seems the lessor of two evils, and the titular lead of NPR’s hour devoted to strange car noises and things lost down dashboard defroster vents, while elder brother Tom provides cautionary marriage advice along with a feigned ignorance of last week’s puzzler.
The show is seemingly done mostly to entertain NPR’s weekend listeners, and believe you me, if you have nothing better to do on your days off than listen to this pair on the radio, then you’re probably. . . me. That’s right, I listen to Click and Clack, and in fact I have for years. My favorite parts are when Ray shouts Ha! before noting that they’re back from a station break, and when they do the whole bit that usually ends with Huey, Louis, Dewy- that’s comedy gold right there.
But is it sound car advice? I know that it’s next to impossible to diagnose the automotive issues of left-wing liberal chardonnay-sippers (and let’s be honest here, right wing Fox News Radio listeners can either fix their own cars, or they will blame the problem on Obama and carjack a Democrat) but it would maybe be easier if they weren’t guffawing up a storm and flirting with the women callers that sound cute – is that katie with a k?
So what do you think, do Click and Clack off sound advice, or is it mostly just insipid filler taking up space between Weekend Edition and Garrison Keillor?
Image sources: [blogcritics.com, WAER.org]
Related posts:
- Hooniverse Asks- What’s the Worst Piece of Car Advice You’ve Ever Received?
- Hooniverse Asks- Who’s Your Automotive Hero?
- Hooniverse Asks- What Automotive Accessory Do You Wish Was Still Around?
- Hooniverse Asks- What’s the Best Automotive Prank You’ve Ever Been Party To?
- Hooniverse Asks – What Automotive Legend Would You Like to Meet?
I listen to Car Talk when I choose not to attend spin class on Saturday.
I listen for entertainment, and really enjoy it. They offer some sound advice, and, if I ever had a car issue, I would call them first. Shit is free, and maybe their advice would not be sound, but I would probably get off cheaper than visiting a mechanic.
Icons.
I love this program!
(Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe)
I remember being stuck in a traffic jam and having been caught laughing hysterically out loud while all alone in the car (that's kind of embarassing) while listening to their antics.
They usually have some pretty good advice, and there's always "Stump the Chumps" or something like that to see how good their advise was!
Even better when a caller tells of a car problem, and they ask questions to determine the cause of the problem: "So, how long have you been dating your boy friend……"
OK, almost done…. one of my favorite things too was their idea of reducing accidents not by adding more safety features (HID headlights to make you see further and drive faster), ABS, traction control, stability control (to let you drive faster), air bags popping out from every imaginable surface….. NO! Their answer: a big spike pointing out of the steering wheel to make everyone DRIVE better, instead of having the car compensate for poor driving.
Don't drive like my brother….
Somebody please Google the "big spike" concept to see who came up with that first. I'm sure I've heard mention of it before and I had never heard of the Tappet Brothers until six minutes ago.
The "Grille of Damocles" was a penalty in the early LeMons races to discourage drivers from getting a little too close to the back end of other cars on the track. Similar concept.
<img src="http://jalopnik.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2008/08/GrilleOfDamoclesSide_494.jpg">
Should be mandatory fitment to any German car driven by any member of any middle-management team.
TAKE TWO: YOU SUCK HOONIBLES.
The "Grille of Damocles" was a penalty in the early LeMons races to discourage drivers from getting a little too close to the back end of other cars on the track. Similar concept.
Hehe, it appears that Hoonibbles hasn't liked any of the pictures he's eaten lately, and randomly coughs them back up into the original post.
This is not the "big spike" but instead the "Aztec sacrifice" concept. It dates to 1969 in John Muir's "How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive" book. I think the concept is an even older one, though the details have changed over the years. The "spike" itself has a very Dave Barry feel to me though google fails me.
"The semantics of driving safety become more and more confusing every day as safety equipment gets more complicated and sophisticated. If safety equipment like seat belts, rubber baby bumpers, folding steering wheels had lowered the accident rate, I'd be for it but I feel it has increased accidents. If your car is properly maintained, with good brakes and steering, clean windshield, lights and wipers that work and all that, then your safety is a direct function of what you are – what you are being as you whistle down the road. If we all constantly drive as if we were strapped to the front of the car like Aztec sacrifices so we'd be the first thing hit, there would be a helluva lot less accidents. One safety thing I do is to mount my spare in the front of my Bus which I feel is as good as having an engine in front of me if I ever hit a cow or something. Good Road…" – Muir
So, the "big spike" or similar meme is pretty much as old as motoring itself. Cugnot probably had similar thoughts with his steam tractor.
Speaking of tractors, 200+ hundred years later, and farmers actually do have arm breakers on steering wheels. Go figure.
I used to DL and listen to their podcast on a regular basis. It's sound advice and I wouldn't insult anyone consulting them for car problems. Unfortunately I had to stop listening as they just try too hard to be funny sometimes.
No, don't listen to NPR. Well, if I need a nap I may.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXSyzeVWueI&fe…
"Click and Clack" is in the Madison area news papers and their advice is hit or miss in my opinion sometimes. Radio, print, trying to answer auto questions can't be easy. It is hard enough face to face because too many times you aren't getting the full story about the cars issues before getting a chance to service it.
I could get into a whole spiel about the difference I see in Liberal and Conservative customers. There is a difference, a amazing one. Then add in if they are Liberal Church goers or Conservative Churches. Married, Single, with kids, divorced. You can almost predict how the job will go just knowing some personal details about people. Seeing the car is also a good indicator. Also amazing how fast you can gain or lose a customer if they find out a belief I have. It is always business though, never personal. I just deal with each one as they hope to be dealt with. I've got some very far left and very far right customers that are also friends. Fun to listen to them talk/rant.
"Lilwillie's Tales From the Garage" is a newsletter I would subscribe to.
One of my favorite moments up here was when I was called a 'Racist Pig".
Nice spring day. A friend who was laid off (seasonal) was at the shop hanging out having coffee. I get a walk in customer with a flat tire, he was driving a Venture minivan. He lived up the road from our shop. I racked the car and started to zip the lug nuts off when another car pulled in. In the mean time this customer walked to the back of the shop and started chit-chatting with my friend.
I walked outside and the woman was driving a Cavalier. Emergency spare on the back. She got out and said. "I need my tire fixed, I am driving to Chicago right now, I need to get going!" I calmly stated to her I had another customer with a flat tire on the rack and that gentleman was waiting for me to finish his vehicle. Once done with him I would bring her car in and see what I could do. Her response.
"Bullshit, you don't want to help me because I'm black. You racist pig!"
I was all ready to tear her a new a-hole over that remark but at that very moment the customer in the shop walked out and asked if I would be much longer. He was a Black man…..
The woman was then stunned, got in her car and peeled out of the lot faster then I could say "Buh-Bye".
The male customer, he starts laughing because he heard the conversation. "What the hell are the odds of two Black people in this little town needing tires fixed at the same time." to which I replied, "Pretty good obviously."
Come on, man – she was obviously mad about your extreme lack of cotomer sevis.
Awesome story!!!!!!!!
so…. a question for ya, if you don't mind… when I bring in the car for service and it's dirty inside, is that good or bad??
good: you don't have to worry about getting it dirty, you can obviously eat, drink, or smoke in it if you want, etc.
bad: do you think I don't care about the car??
just curious, thanks!
Let's say it is just generally dirty. Few things here and there, carpets dirty I'm still paranoid about getting the car messy or dirty myself. I try to keep clean all the time, but sometimes will leave a mark and take the effort to clean it. I don't think you don't care about the car. The outside and underneath along with maintenance history will tell me more.
If it is like some I've had, where there is just enough room to drive it, then I know there are larger issues the customer has that mean the car is the last thing on their mind.
What I would call moderate clutter, say books, business materials, phones, equipment for work in the passenger and rear seats I know the person uses the car as a office so they'll want it road worthy all the time and want it back soon. They care about it.
Moderate clutter with kid seats and kid stuff everywhere? Same thing, life is inside that car and it needs to be on the road.
College kids are much the same. Coming to and from school means lots of junk in the car. High School kids are similar.
Now, a dirty car that has empty pop cans everywhere, half eaten food. CD's or DVD's everywhere. The inside windows have a film of smoke on them. The car smells like I just let one rip. I'm pretty sure the outside may look like hell also. Most times they just want it to run with the minimum effort needed.
One thing I learned a long time ago is to never clean the inside of a persons car without their permission. Holy hell that can set off people. It is their personal space and cleaning it may mean I find something they didn't want found. Guns….Pot…..Divorce papers…..Tickets….Summons….Bills…..Final Notice…..
I'm just going to have to stop by sometime…too bad you're about as far west of Madison as I am east. Garage owners and taxi drivers always have the best stories.
always a cold beer in the fridge if you ever do make it over.
Obviously you aren't a racist. You are a sexist! lol good story.
I'd like to hear that spiel too!
I'd have to put a lot more thought into it. Maybe over the holidays I'll give a whirl putting what is in my screwed up head on paper.
Me three!
I'd love to hear that one too.
My mechanic confessed that he didn't know that is was my car (B5.5 Passat wagon) outside his shop, assumed it was some yuppie d-bag, but had to re-evaluate when he saw the Motorhead CD on the seat.
I love those guys, and their ointment.
<img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_ypw0qX59HUE/So-p60NuufI/AAAAAAAAA_E/MBe4lMwbhvk/s400/IMG_00013.JPG" width=500>
As an aside to the Cars-watchers: Anyone have any insight to the "rules" governing the movement of the cars? After multiple viewings, I've decided that the car bodies are generally rigid (other than the mouth area) while the suspension is almost infinitely elastic. Any thoughts?
Yeah, the suspension and wheels act as arms and legs. The exception is Mater's tow hook and the Fire Truck's apparatus.
Guffaw… that's a great word describing their laughs.
It's definitely for entertainment value, and it's hard to diagnose things over the phone, but the bits of mechanical knowledge that they do give out have mostly been sound in my opinion.
Yes sometimes they try a bit too hard to be funny but I love 'em anyway. I mostly listen via podcast in the summer when I'm mowing. The thing is, I HATE HATE HATE talk radio and pretty much any kind of call-in show. Yet some of the folks that call in to Car Talk are very funny. My favorite credit? Yard care by Moses Lonigan.
I grab the podcast, thus avoiding all the extra stuff on NPR that doesn't interest me.
And I grab it for two reasons — 1) it's entertaining. 2) I like to see if I came up with the same answer they did.
I'm not sure I'd call them myself, but you never know. Many of their answers appear to be correct, so I lean towards "sound advice" on this one.
Somehow it turns out I am usually listening to them in the car–if you go with their PBS languid flow, they do have great advice. I like the sense of humor. My favorite joke of theirs: A woman calls in and says "I have a problem with my Volkswagen Quantum." Immediate response: "And you can't find a quantum mechanic?"
They constantly recycle all the same cheesy bits of humor, they laugh too hard at their own jokes, and can't seem to decide if they actually want to get around to talking about cars.
But, yea, love 'em. Absolutely.
There seem to be more and more Hoons that say they love them and are good. I'll have to give them a audio chance. Like I mentioned. The paper version isn't very good. NPR makes me snooze. Have to look the podcast up now. More day gone slacking off because of Hooniverse. Cooool
I don't listen to them much because it cuts into my Fox News time*, but when I have caught them I have chuckled, chortled, and guffawed. How sound is their advice? Probably as sound as any advice based on a long distance phone call and the word of someone who probably knows about as much about cars as Queen Elizabeth. Their humor, though, is campy and fun which is why they are still on.
*Not really. I watch Fox News during the weekdays from time to time. Mostly for Megyn Kelly. RAWR!
<img src="http://www.thecelebrityblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/megyn-kelly-GQ.jpg">
I take comfort on knowing that I am not the only one that watches News for how hot the host/news caster is. BTW check out Headdline News Morning Express with Robin Meade
<img src="http://images1.fanpop.com/images/photos/1500000/Robin-Meade-Wallpaper-1-robin-meade-1530874-1440-900.jpg" width="600">
I always have to know what's Happening Now with Jenna Lee. She started out on Fox Business.
I'm going to chime in that over the phone the advice is pretty good All Things Considered (tee hee hee) and I'm smarter than the average asshole (Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, so which category does that put me in?) and I've learned more than a few things. But I really love it for the oddball humor. I think one was a physics student at MIT, it really shows in their humor. Also the marital advice is golden and funny. That alone is probably why I listen whenever I get a chance. Sometimes we plan drives around when they are on. My wife likes them too, so definitely icons.
Gearhead geeks that offer good advice and have infectious car geek/geek geek humor. What's NOT to love about these guys?
Last time I listened to NPR I Bought a sweater and tried to adopt a parakeet.
S#!ts evil I tell you…
If they don't know much about cars, then 95% of us don't know anything about cars in comparison.
I like the show. Don't listen often, but it's always worth a listen. Are they right often? Who knows, given the whole phone diagnosis thing, but they explain what they think is happening well, and they have a good rapport with callers. The newspaper column,meh, too short.
Anyone ever check out their website and forum? Just curious.
Also, I just reached 53p in my user rating with this post. I truly am an American Original.
Congratulations! Here's a trophy!
<img src="http://www.herbiemania.com/53airportcut.jpg">
Note: It will not be delivered by this woman.
<img src="http://www.realbollywood.com/news/wp-content/plugins/bollywood/images/70cde_lindsay_lohan1.jpg"width=500>
Is she still in jail?
Geez she's hot. Also, this was like, what, yesterday? Now I'm already 57p. What am I doing so right all of a sudden?
Here have a '53 'vette, I throw in a '78 for when you reach that number.
<img src="http://oemcorvettepublications.com/gallery/Fgallery4-3a.jpg" width="500">
I know (now) that it wasn't that fast, but a blue '75 with black interior was one of the first cars i fell in love with. Love the door handle placement.
Once, many years ago, I was on a long, winter drive through the wilds of Wyoming and Nebraska, all alone in a borrowed car. The owner of the car had left about seven million cassette tapes in the console, and roughly half of them were Car Talk episodes. Ever since then, I have been a huge fan. I listen to their podcast rather than the broadcasts. That way, I can pause it and play back any rehashed jokes that I missed. Recently, one of them admitted in a broadcast that he really didnt like cars very much. That was pretty much the funniest thing I have ever heard.
Every Saturday morningat 10 am this olelongrooffan's radio is tuned to 90.7 for a full hour of snorts and giggles. I love these guys. Check them out at cartalk.com.
I was going to respond to this post but I felt an urgent need of a haircut
I listen when I find myself in the car alone on the weekend and they happen to be on. If the kids are in the car they want "kid music." Sometimes I get the podcasts. I enjoy the challenge of diagnosing the issue the caller has and attempting to come up with the same answer the brothers do. I'm a fan.
Tom looks way better with a mustache.
Their default humor grows tiresome quickly, but has blips of massive hilarity.
They clearly have a very east-coast view of cars as transportation appliances that become old, crappy, unreliable and scary after about 5 years. Similarly, anything more powerful than a V6 Camry or more tough than a Liberty is some kind of souped-up exotic. I hate them when they get into that mindset, but for most of their callers it's probably accurate. They do occasionally tell people to just keep driving that 84 Civic until it cracks in half, so I know that on some level they get it.
Their diagnostic abilities blow my mind. I've learned tons about how to have the "my car's making a noise" conversation with someone just from listening to these guys. I'm so so happy when I guess correctly before they do.
And their ability to make and differentiate car noises is unmatched.
Car talk brought me one of my most treasured articles ever: Automatic transmissions and the decline of western morals:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/read-on/1999/11.05…
It's been ages since I've listened to those guys, but I still have a Car Talk t-shirt hanging in the closet, having won it by having the correct answer to The Puzzlah 20 years ago (that's before the Web, and search engines).
I mean, everyone knows what an Rzeppa joint is, right?
Decent car advice- especially considering they are giving it on the spot without having the benefit of seeing the car. Better than I could do.
But, do I listen to them? Nope. I quit because they seem to hate driving. They are beigemeisters.
I cannot stand this show. I'd really like to listen to it, but I tire quickly of their lousy humor, and that one dude's laugh.
I don't listen to these guys as much as I used to, but still will listen occasionally. I like to see if I can figure out the problem before they do (it seems to be worn CV joints about half of the time). I've come to the conclusion, listening to the show, that NPR people know diddly about cars. And, as Dearthair noted above, the Tappet Brothers have total disdain for any vehicle even remotely interesting, especially if it was made in North America. Having said that, they do know their stuff when it comes to turning wrenches, and they are funny as hell.
I too am bummed when they bag on older cars as "unsafe" because they don't have airbags and all the other safety features available in every car sold off the lot. I've said it before, and I will never tire of saying it again,
"The Most Important Safety Feature of any Vehicle Sits Right There, in the Drivers Seat."
I used to listen to it, in part to feel superior to the dipshits that would call NPR for auto repair advice. Tom & Ray like MGBs, Dodge Darts and Colt Vista Wagons. How bad can they be?
Icons, nay, Hoonitarian prophets, they be!
I love Car Talk! I've been listening off-and-on for 15 years or better, and subscribed to the podcast a few weeks ago. I am sometimes surprised by how few callers are calling with a problem on an American car, and how many are calling because of trouble with a manual transmission, but I suppose that's the NPR demographic at work.
I used to listen to Car Talk, even back into the early 90s, but I've caught them giving wrong advice, especially about VWs or Audis.
Wrong advice that is understandable given that they are diagnosing car trouble over the phone, or wrong advice that should be obvious for a specific issue?
I don't listen religiously, but the GF loves the show so i hear it pretty regularly. I think it should be noted that they make their living by owning, what i hear is, one of the most respected shops in the Boston area. (And i think that was how they made their living before getting a radio show.)
Whether it's a good show or a so-so show depends mostly on their callers.
Edit: I think that they're successful because, like Top Gear, women like it too. My mom hasn't owned a car out of warranty in like 20 years, but she listens every Saturday (she also watches Top Gear). She's not into cars, nor is my stepfather.
I like to listen to she show, I usually get a good laugh.