Hacker News Reader

Comment by ceejayoz | Hacker News Reader

I hope Melissa "the Twerp" Peterson (http://www.wnyc.org/story/1421-my-dog-hates-you-too/) does a eulogy for him.

(Girl who wrote a letter complaining that the show sucked and that she had to listen because her parents did in the car... they had her on and she'd periodically call in for years)

My all-time favorite was the episode where someone called in and said that their vehicle would run pretty well but with lots of vibration for 8 minutes, then the engine would cut and refuse to start up again. It turned out to be someone onboard the Space Shuttle. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moAqzM4ptm8

View on HN

"The odometer on this thing reads about 60 million miles."

That was John Grunsfeld - he used to work on his car at Hacker's Haven in the late 70's (a DIY garage that Ray and Tom ran in Cambridge for a few years). That's just awesome that he was able to call in from the Space Shuttle.

I really liked their cameo in Cars. Tom's character was a Dodge Dart, which was problematic car he had owned, and was often a point of discussion on the show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6y...

Pretty good best of here: http://www.wbur.org/2014/11/03/car-talk-tom-best-of

Car Talk was my gateway into NPR growing up when I used to listen with my dad on long drives. I've had the fortune to meet the Car Talk brothers many times and they were just as funny and friendly in person as they were on the show. RIP Tom.

Great line from the "Tom's Marriage Advice" segement: "I have my own law of marriage, which is that it is more important to be happy than to be right."

"Gateway to npr" is a great way to put it. These guys got me listening and donating.

Car Talk was wonderful when I was listening to NPR. I had to stop listening after their abdication of duties in the 2000 election and the subsequent wars. I now understand NPR to be just a shill for our corporate government. Tom and Ray were great though.

thank you for that.

Edit: found a video clip of the brothers. Laughs included https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8TC2J1aTr4

Wow, that clip actually brought me to tears. As obvious as their friendship was on the radio, that clip made it all the more clear just how close they were.

That space shuttle clip made my day. Thanks for that!

Another classic: "every single bolt on the thing is sticking, and I'm afraid I'll break the bolt, this thing is 19 years old." [referring to HST repairs] http://www.cartalk.com/player5/player.php?a=longclip&id=Grun...

Melissa needs to write the eulogy in the back of twenty dollars bill and send them to:

Car Talk Plaza Box 3500 Harvard Square Cambridge , MA 02238

>Car Talk Plaza Box 3500 Harvard Square Cambridge our fair city , MA 02238

FTFY. :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com