--- ---  # How Tom Magliozzi Explained the Reason for _Car Talk_  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 4, 2014 1:09 AM UTC  Ray Magliozzi, left, and Tom Magliozzi, hosts of National Public Radio's Car Talk, in Cambridge, Mass. on June 19, 2008. Ray Magliozzi, left, and Tom Magliozzi, hosts of National Public Radio's Car Talk, in Cambridge, Mass. on June 19, 2008.Charles Krupa—AP  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Nov 4, 2014 1:09 AM UTC Tom Magliozzi, the co-host of NPR’s _Car Talk_ who [died Monday at 77](http://time.com/3555125/npr-car-talk-tom-magliozzi-dies-77/), wasn’t always a radio guru. Both he and his brother Ray, his co-host, went to MIT; before 1973, when they opened the garage that first got them invited to talk about cars on the radio, he was an engineer. But in 2000, when the Magliozzis spoke to TIME’s Joel Stein about a book released that year, they explained that they decided back in the 1970s to pay ample attention to their “work-to-play ratio,” as Ray phrased it. They could have made more money than they did, they could have been more famous — though just barely, considering _Car Talk_‘s reach — and they could have done something more prestigious, but they didn’t want to. Their dedication to the accessible, nothing-fancy ethos was, they explained, part of the reason why they did a radio show about cars in the first place: --- > “” --- **_Read the full article, free of charge, here in TIME’s archives:_** [Four-Wheel Expertise](http://time.com/3555551/tom-magliozzi-ray-car-talk-brothers/) Car Talk Tom Magliozzi Remembered: 2000 TIME Magazine Interview ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3555566/tom-magliozzi-car-talk-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3555566/tom-magliozzi-car-talk-interview/"},"headline":"How Tom Magliozzi Explained the Reason for Car Talk","datePublished":"2014-11-04T01:09:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:11:52.306Z","description":"In 2000, the late NPR host and his brother spoke to TIME's Joel Stein","url":"https://time.com/3555566/tom-magliozzi-car-talk-interview/","keywords":["remembrance","radio","NPR"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1472ba273a7fc3e/698763f7a988cae49e6aa2c8/tom-magliozzi2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf1472ba273a7fc3e/698763f7a988cae49e6aa2c8/tom-magliozzi2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Car Talk","caption":"Car Talk","creditText":"Charles Krupa—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3555566/tom-magliozzi-car-talk-interview/","name":"How Tom Magliozzi Explained the Reason for Car Talk"}}]}] ```