Edition: U.S. / Global

Good News Garage Leads to Radio Laurels

Published: April 5, 1993

Heather from Idaho needs advice on buying a "new" used pickup truck. Her husband is a teacher, but in the summer, see, he runs a landscaping business on the side, so he needs a big truck.

"Where in Idaho do you live?" Tom Magliozzi demands in a belligerent tone.

Heather lives in a small town 50 miles from the Canadian border.

"As we know, borders have a plethora of pickup trucks," Mr. Magliozzi tells her. "That's where all pickup trucks end up, on the borders between countries and between states. I don't know why. No one's been able to explain this phenomenon."

For 16 years, Tom Magliozzi and his brother, Ray, have been dispensing tips like this -- some of them actually useful, more of them simply wacky -- on "Car Talk," an hourlong program on National Public Radio. On Thursday, their unique contribution to call-in culture was recognized with a Peabody Award, the broadcasting equivalent of a Pulitzer Prize. Not Just for Fanatics

It is a point of pride to Tom and Ray Magliozzi, who refer to each other as Click and Clack, to have a theory for everything, especially things they have never heard of before. But when asked to explain how they won a Peabody Award, the brothers, who got together on Friday night to tape the show as usual, were theoryless.

"Evidently our esteemed producer entered us," said Tom, 55.

"He didn't tell us," said Ray, 44. "Because we would have told him, 'Don't bother.' "

Among the 1.5 million people who tune in to "Car Talk" each week, there are doubtless some who know the difference between a cylinder block and a torque converter, and care deeply about automatic hot air intake. But there are probably more who don't. The point of "Car Talk," it turns out, is not to talk about cars, but to have fun: fun at the expense of people who make cars, people who buy them, people who ask for advice about them and, above all, people who pretend to give out such advice over the radio.

"Now we come to the segment of the program where I demonstrate my brother's mind is, in fact, mush," said Ray on Friday night as he introduced the weekly puzzle. Puzzles and Questions

The brothers Magliozzi (pronounced mah-lee-OTT-zee) grew up in East Cambridge, Mass., and they continue to speak a pure Bostonese that sounds a lot like a truck running over vowels. Usually, at least 10 of their 60 minutes of air time are given over to their unrestrained delight in their own humor, maniacal laughter that is often just as funny as their jokes.

The format of "Car Talk" varies little from week to week. The show usually begins with a short, scripted spiel. Sometime toward the middle comes the puzzle. The rest of the program is taken up answering -- or at least toying with -- real questions posed by real car owners. The questions are screened by the show's staff at WBUR, a Boston public radio station, to get the right mix of automotive concerns. But the Magliozzi brothers are not told in advance what they will be.

"We realized a long time ago it wouldn't make any difference if we knew what the questions were," Ray explained. "We don't even know what the answers are." A Case Study

Fortunately, there appears to be no shortage of callers willing to play the straight man in return for the chance to save a few hundred dollars on auto repairs. Often callers receive practical advice on replacing a brake caliper, for example, or checking the electrical circuits. But it takes a while to get there. This recent exchange with Judy from Arkansas is typical "Car Talk" fare:

Judy has a 1983 Oldsmobile wagon that is doing these "little strange things," and sometimes, she points out, when a woman takes a car to mechanics, "they don't believe her." When she accelerates after a full stop, the car feels as if it is towing something "really, really heavy."

Tom: "Exactly when does this happen? I'm working on a theory."

Judy: "Generally when it's cold, always when I take off from a stop."

Ray: "Does it improve as the engine warms up?"

Judy: "Yes."

Ray: "So it's that first takeoff from a dead stop that you really feel it, that lag, and then all of a sudden, whump, it takes off."

Judy: "Yeah, exactly."

Ray: "I think you're making this up, Judy." Opinionated Talkers

The origin of "Car Talk" can be traced back to a chance invitation the brothers received in 1977. At that time, the two, both graduates of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, were operating an auto repair shop, the Good News Garage, in Cambridge. (Ray still runs the garage; Tom teaches business at Suffolk University in Boston.) One day, they and several other local mechanics were invited to discuss cars on WBUR; only Tom showed up. He was invited to return the next week and took Ray. For the next 10 years, "Car Talk" could be heard every week in Boston; then in 1987, National Public Radio began to distribute the show nationally. Today, "Car Talk" can be heard on public radio stations in almost every major media market in the country (in New York on WNYC-FM on Saturdays at 8 P.M.).

Both of the Magliozzi brothers have strong opinions on most subjects, many of them uncharitable. Here, for example, is Tom on tow-truck drivers: "Is there anything lower in the earth than a tow-truck driver?" Or Ray on the auto repair business: "Any business where there's an opportunity for abuse to take place, it doesn't take long before the real sleazeballs gravitate to it."

A favorite subject of the Magliozzis is the astonishing resourcefulness of the American auto industry. After Friday night's taping, the conversation turned to cup holders. One of the new Chevrolet mini-vans, has six seats, but when you fold one down, Ray pointed out, it has five seats and 13 cup holders.

"That's one area where General Motors has excelled," Tom said. "When people talk about the Japanese being ahead of us, they don't hold a patch to us in cup holders."

Detroit has not always appreciated the attention. A few years ago, Ray described the engine in one of Chrysler's mini-vans as "lousy"; it was lucky, he noted, that the van had seven seats because six people would be needed to push it uphill. "Did we get letters," he recalled. "We got dozens and dozens, from every engineer that had anything to do with Chrysler. They even dug guys up that were dead and had them write a letter."

Tom said, "They just couldn't take a joke."

Photo: Tom Magliozzi, left, and his brother, Ray, in the studio at WBUR in Boston where they tape "Car Talk" for National Public Radio. (Evan Richman for The New York Times)