'Car Talk' host Tom Magliozzi made us laugh about life, with cars

Tom Magliozzi and 'Car Talk' were infectious and incessantly funny – enough to pull in listeners who didn't give a hoot about cars otherwise. Magliozzi, who died Monday, was MIT educated, a former college professor, and co-owner of a do-it-yourself repair shop, among other things.

|
Charles Krupa/AP/File
Tom Magliozzi, co-host with his brother Ray of National Public Radio's 'Car Talk' show, poses with a caricature of himself in Cambridge, Mass. in 2008. NPR says Magliozzi died Monday, Nov. 3, 2014.

Car Talk, as any regular listener could attest, wasn’t so much about fixing cars as much it was about dissecting the interpersonal issues and hangups that often accompanied breakdowns, repairs, or vehicle choices. 

Cars were—and are—a lens toward understanding a lot of our relationships in life. And we haven’t heard anyone else break it down, in such a smart, incessantly funny way, than Tom and Ray Magliazzi did on Car Talk.

Tom Magliozzi, who died Monday, was MIT educated, a former college professor, and co-owner of a do-it-yourself repair shop, among other things. And yes, his laughter was infectious—enough to pull in those who didn’t give a hoot about cars otherwise.

Ray, with the Magliozzi family, has extended an invitation for listeners to make a donation to the Alzeimer’s Association or their favorite NPR station in Tom’s memory.

The laughter lives on in reruns on the radio, and in episodes you can stream at CarTalk.com. Read more about Magliozzi’s life, including some great remembrances, with the links below:

'Car Talk' Co-Host Tom Magliozzi Dies At 77

Tom Magliozzi, Popular Co-Host Of NPR's 'Car Talk,' Dies At 77

Tom Magliozzi: As Warm In Real Life As He Was On The Radio

Fans And Colleagues Remember 'Car Talk' Host Tom Magliozzi

Tom Magliozzi 1937-2014

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to 'Car Talk' host Tom Magliozzi made us laugh about life, with cars
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2014/1104/Car-Talk-host-Tom-Magliozzi-made-us-laugh-about-life-with-cars
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe