What happens
Jim Anderson's family car has grown shabby, and the Andersons argue over whether it is worth keeping. Jim insists that the old automobile is still solid, while his children, especially Betty and Kathy, want something newer. Jim takes the car to Gilhausen, a local mechanic, who repairs a loose fender with wire. The car stalls before a church picnic, and the family must scramble to get there. The story follows Jim's stubborn attachment to the car and his family's growing frustration as the repairs keep failing. The episode is from the Father Knows Best radio series, first broadcast on June 8, 1950, starring Robert Young as Jim Anderson.
Springfield, on Maple Street, at the Anderson family's white frame house and nearby roads
Characters: Jim Anderson, Margaret Anderson, Betty Anderson, Kathy Anderson, Bud Anderson, Gilhausen, Fred Haney, Janie Liggett
Listen for: Jim's insistence that the old car is still sound, and the comic string of fender and ignition failures
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.