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He's the man behind The John Moore Show on talk radio station CFRB 1010 in Toronto. He also hosts Guy Stuff on Men TV.

But his real claim to fame is having appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy — although he'd probably like to forget that moment since he lost big time, nearly $4,000 in the red. Obviously, game shows aren't his forte. Cars are.

John Moore is a self-confessed car nut, but when he made the move from Montreal to Toronto, he dumped two of his cars — an Audi A4 and a Jeep Grand Cherokee, but he couldn't part with the third — a 1990 Mazda Miata.

"I remember it coming out. I remember reading a review of it and liking the look of the car right away. I still remember the review. It said, 'with a backside so cute you want to pinch it.' People were just nuts about it back then," says Moore, who worked in radio at CFRB's sister station in Montreal before moving to Toronto.

Moore bought the Miata in 1998. "That was the point when I realized this radio gig is working out and I had money to buy a second car so I did."

He came across the car in a newspaper ad; the seller was a Montreal businessman. "I went to see him and took it for a ride. Then I took it to my mechanic and he said it was great.

"He looked up the book value and said it's worth about $8,000 bucks. So I made the guy an offer of $8,500 and he was asking for $10,500. He was eating lunch and he just turned and didn't speak to me. Okay, so that didn't work out so well. A few weeks later, I went back with a bit more money, but I still got it for less than asking," he boasts.

"Some people see the Miata as a compromise. I think it has amazing mechanics. It has got an incredible, tight, little shifting transmission and a great clutch. For a simple, little inexpensive car, it has a lot going for it."

Especially the mileage; his 18-year-old ragtop only has 101,000 km on it. "I brought it to Toronto last year and went down around the Lakeshore one evening, when I knew it was going to click over 100,000. It was never winter-driven. It has never seen snow."

Moore's first car was a gift from his grandmother — a Rambler American she bought on the day he was born.

"It's all coincidental. The day I was born, she bought a Rambler American and when I turned 16 she gave it to me. It was a horrible car, though," he laughs.

"You remember cars from that era? The steering wheel was like a gigantic serving platter.

"The really interesting thing about it was if you pulled a lever, the front seat would fall back and turn into a bed. It was a big selling feature they always advertised." He confesses he "never had the chance to give it a whirl."

The Rambler was riddled with problems. "In the wintertime, the Rambler developed a habit where the door wouldn't properly shut and you never knew if the passenger door was shut or not.

"I remember getting into that vehicle one night, it was freezing cold and I had a friend in the passenger seat and we went around a curve on a hill in Montreal. That's when the radio thawed out. The radio came on and was playing bebop music.

"At that point, because we were going around a corner, the passenger door flew open with such force that it bent itself permanently open. I had to get it all fixed. It was just a very bizarre winter evening drive in Montreal."

"The alternator never worked either. I didn't have any money. I used to fill it up two, three, four dollars at a time. To recharge the battery, I'd plug it in so I guess I had the first electric car.

"I stopped driving it because it wasn't road worthy any more. Ultimately, it just decayed and fell apart in my parent's driveway to the point where I got a flat-bed truck to come and pick it up. They gave me $75," says the 42 year old.

Then, he bought a K car from his parents. "It was just horrible. Just an awful thing — that's really a forgettable spot in the history of American cars."

Moore wasn't thrilled about cars until he turned to the Japanese. "The first car I was really, really excited to own was a two-year-old Toyota Camry.

"It was the first standard transmission I had ever driven. I had never driven a standard before so I had to take my best friend to the dealer to drive it home for me. For the first week, I popped the clutch, I was constantly stalling at lights and looking like an absolute idiot lurching through the city core.

"I thought this is the biggest mistake I ever made. I'm an idiot I shelled out all this money for a car and I hate it. And then when I learned how to drive standard, I'll never go back.

"It was a 1992 or 1994. It had 185 horsepower, which back then was a big deal and six cylinders and it just hummed. It was an amazing, very sporty car back then. Now it's a drab, family vehicle."

After all these years, Moore is still excited about the Miata. But it's aging fast — maybe it's time to get a new Mazda MX-5?

"No. I'd feel like I was cheating on my car. They look nice, though."