#2566: Sparks-a-Flying

The Best of Car Talk

NPR

Comedy, Automotive, Leisure

4.8 • 16.1K Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When Peter applies the brakes on his Honda while driving at night sparks shoot out from under the dash and the car loses power. And we always thought Hondas were kind of boring! Hear the sparks fly on this episode of the Best of Car Talk.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from the Walton Family Foundation, working to create access to opportunity for people and communities by tackling tough social and environmental problems.
0:12.0	More information is at waltonfamilyfoundation.org.
0:20.2	Music Hello and welcome to Car Talk from National Public Radio with us,
0:35.1	Click and Clack the Tappert Brothers,
0:36.4	and we're broadcasting this week from the Center for Aphoristic Studies here. Aphoristic. You made up that word. Not such word as aphoristic. Aphorismatic? Aphorismatic. Aphorismatic, that's it. Well, aphorisms, adages, proverbs, whatever you call them, they're kind of weird things, aren't you? I mean, how many people do you know who have ever counted chickens? I never did. I know Doug Mayer counts sheep. No, we won't discuss that. Anyway, a few weeks ago, a fourth grade teacher wrote to Anne Landers. Everyone knows who Ann Landers is. Yeah, she writes an automotive column. Yeah, the one that gives
1:11.8	the right answers. Anyway, maybe you saw this. She gave her students the first part of a proverb and asked them to complete it logically. Right. Every year, she says, I give my fourth grade class the beginnings of well-known proverbs and ask them to complete the sayings. I thought your readers might enjoy. Mrs. Leslie Vic from Westlake Village, California.
1:10.5	So here's what she...
1:11.3	Here's the... proverbs and asked them to complete the sayings. I thought your readers might enjoy it. Mrs. Leslie Vic from Westlake Village, California.
1:30.2	So here's what she, here's the beginning that she gave them, and here's what they answered.
1:34.7	It is always darkest, and the kid wrote, before you flunk a test.
1:41.1	If at first you don't succeed, live with it.
1:45.4	I like this one.
1:46.7	Better late, and the kid writes, than absent.
1:51.6	That was always my philosophy.
1:55.0	A bird in the hand.
1:57.0	Now, this is a kid with...
1:59.2	This is a fourth grader.
2:00.2	Fourth grader.
2:00.8	This is a kid with imagination. A bird in the hand, and a kid with... This is a fourth grader. Fourth grader. This is a kid with imagination.
2:02.3	A bird in the hand, and the kid writes,
2:05.1	is better than a woodpecker on your head.
2:10.7	Haste makes sweat.
	...

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