NPR’s most famous brothers, Click and Clack, i.e. Tommy and Ray Magliozzi, announced yesterday that they’ll be retiring from their legendary radio show, Car Talk.

According to The Washington Post:

Over the past two years, says Christopher, the 74-year-old Tom and 63-year-old Ray have been easing their way into automotive retirement, taking fewer fresh callers, and NPR remains elated with the results. “The show has continued to perform extremely well. Listeners continue to find them funny regardless if the call was recorded yesterday or if the call was recorded five years ago,” says Christopher.

Here’s a bit from their farewell note, “It’s Time to Get Even Lazier”, via CarTalk.com:

TOM:  And with Car Talk celebrating its 25th anniversary on NPR this fall (35th year overall, including our local years at WBUR)…

RAY:  …and my brother turning over the birthday odometer to 75, we’ve decided that it’s time to stop and smell the cappuccino.

TOM:  So as of October, we’re not going to be recording any more new shows.   That’s right, we’re retiring.

RAY:  So, we can finally answer the question, if my brother retired, how would he know?

TOM:  The good news is that, despite our general incompetence, we actually remembered to hit the “record” button every week for the last 25 years.  So we have more than 1,200 programs we’re going to dig into starting this fall, and the series will continue.

RAY:  Every week, starting in October, NPR will broadcast a newly assembled Car Talk show, selected from the best material in our archives.

TOM:  Sorry, detractors, we’re still going to be on the air!

RAY:  But to our fans, don’t be sad. We’ve managed to avoid getting thrown off NPR for 25 years, given out tens of thousands of wrong answers, generated lawsuit threats from innumerable car companies, and had a hell of a lot of fun talking to you guys.

So that gives us time to get used to not having our favorite automotive repair guys in our lives every weekend.

What do you love most about Car Talk?

What is it about Tommy an Ray that has made them such a huge success?

Photo: AP/ Susan Walsh (photo c. 1991)