Dear Car Talk: I have a question that’s plagued me for decades. When I was in medical school in Buffalo, New York, I often drove to Long Island to visit my parents during school breaks. One Christmas break, I drove home in a HUGE snowstorm in my dad’s Buick Regal (automatic). It took me more than 12 hours to get home. The amount of snow falling down from the sky was unbelievable.

Being a careful driver, I put the car in second gear and drove all the way home in that gear, never going more than 40 mph on the highway. When I got back, my dad was pretty upset with me for doing so, claiming that I “ruined” the car.

The car seemed to run just fine after that trip. However, his comment has haunted me for decades. Did I indeed “ruin” his car? There was so much snow on the ground that I was afraid I’d spin out. Do I owe my father an apology (granted a very overdue one)? Also, I still enjoy listening to CarTalk on Apple Podcasts every week when “new” old episodes come out. Thank you for the memories and for all the laughs. -- Carol

Your dad probably thinks you owe him a transmission, not an apology, Carol. But you don’t. Actually, you don’t owe him either. You don’t say what year your dad’s Regal was, but let’s say it was a 1985. That car had a three-speed automatic transmission.

So, the car used three gears to cover over its 100-mph speed range. While I’ve, fortunately, erased ‘85 Buick Regal transmission specs from my memory banks, I have absolutely no doubt that driving at 40 mph would have been well within the normal range of second gear.

Had you been driving 80 mph in second gear for 12 hours, well, then you could have heated up the transmission or over-revved the engine.

But driving at 40 did absolutely no damage whatsoever, Carol. And it speaks to your thoughtfulness and empathy (and probably how good a doctor you are) that you’ve worried about this for decades. But you can now forget all about it.

Actually, here’s what you should do: Next Christmas, call a junkyard near where Dad lives. Tell them you need a transmission for an ‘85 Buick Regal. Pay for it and ask them to deliver it to his driveway. Ask them if they can include an apology card with it. Then you two can have a laugh over it.