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This is not super surprising to regular @cartalk listeners. Oh god, I feel a thread coming on.... 1/
Tom and Ray were diagnosticians. They reveled in the challenge of solving unusual problems. It’s no surprise that they found satisfaction in working on cars. (The fact that most Car Talk “puzzlers” were completely non-automotive shows how wide-ranging their intelligence was)
Here’s what they were not: zealots. Partisans. Self appointed “lifestyle” spokespeople. They were environmentalists, and advocates for frugality (in terms of fuel, and money spent on repairs, and the cars they recommended), but it was never presented in opposition to someone else
They opposed gas guzzlers and embraced fuel efficiency not as a political stance, but simply because they’re sensible people and that makes sense. It’s refreshing listening to old episodes—a show with no political leaning, not railing against some group of “other”
It feels almost quaint.
You can be a car enthusiast and acknowledge that cars cause a lot of problems in society. You can love driving but realize that we’ve dedicated too much space and too many resources to the automobile. You can thrill at a sports car and understand that driving isn’t a human right.
It’s a shitty aspect of our hyper-partisan cliquey media landscape that this feels unusual. That loving cars, and writing or talking about them, makes people assume you’re part of the FROM MY COLD DEAD HANDS car-zealot club.
Tom and Ray never played to that trope. They were smarter than that. And that’s why, out of the tens of thousands of shitty car dweeb podcasts and youtube channels and reality TV shows, @cartalk is so universally loved—by car nerds and non-enthusiasts alike.
They welcomed you in, regardless of how much or how little you knew about cars. Regardless of whether you were a super fan or just a schlub trying to get to work. Damn, I miss that.
