Convertible Caper AFRS: The Adventures of Sam Spade (June 15, 1947)

“Convertible Caper AFRS” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 15, 1947. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A mysterious woman named Meachie walks into Sam Spade's office seeking help recovering a stolen convertible that was taken from her—though she had stolen it first. She's desperate to retrieve it without involving the police because a dangerous man named Tom Tom Carey is hunting her for it. Sam discovers the car is worth far more than anyone realizes, hidden within its platinum fenders, and becomes entangled in a smuggling scheme involving a suave used car dealer.

San Francisco, including Sam Spade's detective office, an auto painting shop, a used car lot, the San Lefell Hotel, and surrounding streets and roads.

Characters: Sam Spade, Effie Tuttle, Meachie, Tom Tom Carey, Paco, Happy Herman Heat (Herman Heat Lovelace), Joe Rembrandt

Listen for: The revelation that the car's fenders are made of solid platinum smuggled for refugees; the twist that Happy Herman Heat operates under an assumed identity; the high-speed climax on a coastal road leading to a cliff.

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.