Car Talk: The This Old Car Idea
Glenn M.: Ray, I remember a conversation we had year ago about a potential TV show called This Old Car.
Ray: That was our original idea.
Glenn M.: What happened to that idea?
Ray: This Old House had already been established, and we went to them and thought that we would do This Old Car, which seemed like a great idea. We would take an old car, a different one every week, we would show people how to do a brake job, etcetera, etcetera. We thought we’d have some fun; just what we do on our radio show. We actually did a screen test, and that's what did us in. They saw these faces, they said, "No. Not happening."
Tom: Faces made for radio!
Ray: So we knew where we should be, and that's where we stayed. We've been very fortunate to be on National Public Radio. They've really stood behind us through thick and thin. It's something that probably wouldn't have happened had we been on a commercial station. When you have commercial sponsors and say something bad about their product, that's pretty much the end of your career. We have said bad things - not to hurt any of the manufacturers, but in fact, to goad them into doing a better job.
Tom: They've all threatened to sue us.
Ray: Oh, oh yeah, many times.
Tom: And we tell them to get lost.
Glenn M.: But you get new cars each week.
Ray: Yeah. For a while, some of the companies withheld the cars, because they thought that would be punishment. We said, "Well, you can withhold the cars if you want, but I don’t think you want us to tell our listeners that a certain manufacturer didn't want us to drive their cars because they're angry at us."
So now we drive everything, and the chips fall where they may. The truth is, I think the American manufacturers have done a much better job with quality. They've got a ways to go. They just have to get that economy thing figured out. We need to get our cars to get 40 miles a gallon. We're very supportive of all the legislation trying to move that up. The faster we can move that up, the better off we'll be.
(Applause)