title: Car Talk 2012 Daily Calendar: 365 Days of Tips, Jokes, and Puzzlers from America's Funniest Car Mechanics
author: Tom Magliozzi
description: Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the Peabody Award-winning hosts of Car Talk on NPR, are better known as 'Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers,' taking their names from the clickety-clack sound made by aging autos. Graduates of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the brothers opened a do-it-yourself garage in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1973. It later turned into the 'Good News Garage,' a conventional car repair service. In 1977, Tom and Ray were given their own weekly program on NPR member station WBUR in Boston. Car Talk soon attracted a large local following, and on October 31, 1987, the show premiered as a national program on NPR. Car Talk is heard by more than 4.3 million listeners each week on 600 public radio stations.
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  # ![DnD_ch01](../Images/DnD_ch01.png)  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  
  
  
  It was as pretty as a day could be in Providence, Rhode Island.
  
  
  
  
  
  A lovely young woman stood on the street corner, holding a heavy armload of
  books and squinting up at the cloudy March sky. A black stretch limousine
  glided past her, then squealed to a stop and backed up quickly.
  
  
  
  
  
  After a moment, one of the darkened rear windows zipped down, revealing Lloyd
  Christmas. He was about 30 years old and had a pleasantly goofy smile and
  straight hair.
  
  
  
  
  
  “Excuse me,” he said, straightening the crooked knot in his tie. “Can you tell
  me how to get to the medical school? I'm supposed to be giving a lecture in 20
  minutes, and my driver's a bit lost.”
  
  
  
  
  
  “Go straight aheads and makes a left over ze bridge,” the young woman said
  with a heavy European accent.
  
  
  
  
  
  “You from Jersey?” Lloyd asked cheerfully.
  
  
  
  
  
  The young woman looked at him and scowled. “Austria.”
  
  
  
  
  
  “Austria?” Lloyd repeated. He put on a mock _Australian_ accent. “