RAY: Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair and the answer to last week's puzzler. Now, this puzzler came from what I thought was a very interesting letter I got like four or five years ago --

TOM: Oh, you're up-to-date.

RAY: -- and it went something like this. Four of us have been working as missionaries in a small African village and we had to make our way to the next village some 50 kilometers away. So we engaged one of the locals to take us in his Toyota Land Cruiser. We put our belongings on the roof, you know, in typical fashion --

TOM: Oh, yeah.

RAY: -- and tied everything up with rope and we began our journey. At one point, we pulled off onto a sandy shoulder to let another vehicle pass. As luck would have it, our driver stalled the engine trying to pull out of the sand and when we went to restart it, it wouldn't start.

TOM: Oh!

RAY: The starter motor was dead. We tapped on it, we spit on it, we cajoled it, we rubbed it. We did everything, including the incantations, but the starter motor had just started for the last time. That was it.

TOM: Hmm.

RAY: Now, we knew there was no way we could get it push-started in the sand so we started looking around the Land Cruiser for things with which we could start the engine.

TOM: Geez! It seems unlikely, you know?

RAY: Seems unlikely. All we could find, in addition to our suitcases, was the regular jack, you know, the one that can jack up one corner of the vehicle at a time; about 30 more feet of that rope that was used to tie all the suitcases onto the roof; and a quart of Philippo Barrio Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

TOM: Um! I got some ideas.

RAY: Night was coming on fast. We were starting to panic. The buzzards were circling; the hyenas were closing in. Our driver says, "I have a plan." Within a minute or so, we had the thing started and off we drove.

TOM: Get out!

RAY: Now, I know I have a bad reputation for putting in obfuscations and useless information and I was counting on that in this puzzle.

Think you know? Drop Ray a note!

And tell him your answer.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]