Keeping things upbeat after some losses

The recent passing of Tom Magliozzi, half of the inimitable team known as Click and Clack, means there will be some changes in how that column appears on the Wichita on Wheels page. But it will not be the end of the column, as Ray Magliozzi plans to continue turning out entertaining car repair advice.

Questions arose last week when Click & Clack were squeezed off the page by a last-minute change in Saturday’s page production schedule. But that was a one-time coincidence. We will finish up the columns already in the pipeline when Tommie succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease, and then switch over to the new look.

It’s a sad, but inevitable, reality that we lose folks in the car hobby.

That’s happened locally twice in recent weeks. The first time, it was the loss of Jon Lemon, an ornery, fun-loving guy who most of us will remember in connection with his beautiful silver-over-yellow bubbletop Chevy Impala.

This week came word that Norman Yoder, a gentle old soul who prized his beautiful blue and white ’55 Chevy hardtop he had owned since 1959, had left us.

People sometimes suggest I should take note of every car collector’s passing, but I tell them I don’t want to turn the Wheels page into a somber collection of car-guy obituaries. Lord knows, I have written my fair share of obituaries in my nearly 40 years in the newspaper business.

It seems to me that the car hobby has always been about finding happiness and sharing it with others. Tom Magliozzi is a prime example of that, and like his brother Ray, we will try to honor that by focusing on upbeat stuff, while privately acknowledging the loss of folks who share our love of cars.

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 7:45 PM with the headline "Keeping things upbeat after some losses."