The Car Trade-In

Originally aired April 6, 1936, this episode finds Fibber angling to swap the McGees’ well-worn jalopy for something shinier—and getting taken for a ride at every turn. After his classified ad full of baffling abbreviations (“G con,” “S.T.T.”) fails to lure buyers, he drags Molly down Automobile Row: first to the hoity-toity “Rolls-Nyce” showroom for tea, sniffy sales patter, and eye-watering prices in colors like “Gorgonzola Green”; then to a budget “Shiverslay” dealer where the demo car breaks down, the disappearing headlights won’t disappear, and the “concealed spare” is…too well concealed. The capper comes at Mr. P. Whitacombe Blotto’s used lot, where their “rare” car earns not cash but the chance to purchase a dubious “gold seal of approval.”