In this episode of the Curmudgeon Show, Derek Tam-Scott buys the world's only factory dogleg manual-transmission station wagon! This episode is all about the dogleg: the transmission layout that automatically makes any car cool. The discussion starts with the simplest question: What is a dogleg? Why does it exist — and why did it come about in the first place? The reason is, of course, racing — where the gears of the H pattern are used all the time, but first gear is only used once (to get movin...
Jun 05, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 99
The Concorso d'Eleganza Villa d'Este is the most prestigious car show in the world, and Jason just attended for the first time. As always, it's about the cars first, but this show differentiates itself from the big American show, the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance, in some significant ways. Jason and Hyphen discuss the show, the old cars, the sounds they make, and of course the beautiful new BMW Coupe Touring Concept, which made its debut at the stage. And the Hyundai Vision N74 Concept, as we...
May 30, 2023•59 min•Season 1Ep. 98
The Range Rover is arguably the definitive luxury SUV, and it wasn't possible without the long-lived aluminum Buick V-8. The Buick "Small-Block" 225-cubic inch V-8 was made entirely out of aluminum — very rare for the 1950s. It wound being turbocharged for the one of the first-ever production turbocharged cars, the Oldsmobile Jetfire. It was ultimately too expensive for production, and was fraught with casting issues, so Buick killed its V-8 — and Rover bought it. The powerful V-8 was (literally...
May 23, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 97
This episode is about the new G87-chassis 2023 BMW M2 — except, it's not. Jason spent a week with an M2, and it coincided with doing a video on the Ferrari Dinos — the 206, 246, and 308 Dinos. What happened, Jason admits, is that the M2 is a perfect example about how the automotive world has gone in the wrong direction, prioritizing isolation and speed above the experience. Measured against its modern peers, perhaps the M2 is okay, but every enthusiast owes it to themself to try some old experie...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Luftgekühlt has just happened in Northern California, for the first time, and Derek attended. So, of course, Jason wants to know: can any single-marque car show ever be cool? Or was this just a bunch of "Porsche-weenies" showing off their roof-racks? As usual, the answer isn't quite that straightforward. Of course, Jason starts out with a rant about Porsche drivers on the freeway, and Derek responds to it with logic. The problem, as always, is that air-cooled Porsches really make sense as a prim...
May 08, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 95
On this episode of the Carmudgeon Show, we discuss hot-hatches and daily drivers with automotive journalist Sam Smith. Discussion centers around the Toyota GR Hot-Hatch Twins: Jason has driven both the GR Corolla and Yaris, Sam has driven only the Corolla, and Derek only the Yaris. Which is best: Corolla or Yaris? And is either as good as the 2023 Honda Civic Type R? And is the CTR, in turn, anywhere near as good as the original Integra Type R? Sam used to own an ITR. Unrelated, Jason used to ow...
May 01, 2023•1 hr 23 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Special Guest Sam Smith joins the Curmudgeons in this episode! Not the singer, but the best writer in the automotive business. Sam also has his own podcast on the Hagerty Podcast Network called "Driven To Fail." This inspires Jason to bring up all the times Sam "failed" while at Automobile Magazine. Jason and Sam both started their careers at Automobile Magazine at 2006, working with the brilliant, talented, and wonderful Jean Jennings. And Sam had a rocky start — immediately recognized as one o...
Apr 24, 2023•58 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Lots of cars are named after a geographic location. Many cars are named after a place you'd never see them. We discuss them all. In this episode of The Carmudgeon Show, Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Hyphen-Scott discuss cars named after places! But first, an update on some of the boys' cars: Derek's R129 Mercedes 500SL finally has rebuilt hydraulic cylinders — and a functioning roof. Jason's W201 Mercedes 190E 2.3-16 has had a rearview mirror blowout. Jason decides he hates his Scirocco after work...
Apr 17, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Honda has finally made a DOHC version of its venerable 3.5-liter V-6 and it makes... no more power. This spurs the Carmudgeons (in a post-lunch coma) to a discussion about head design: why are two cams worth it when you only have two valves? Why did Honda drop VTEC from that V-6 in favor of infinite cam phasing? What is cam phasing, anyway? And why use a V-6 instead of a straight-six when it uses twice as many cams? Or a supercharger and a turbocharger (hello, Lancia Delta S4.) This episode is a...
Apr 10, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Back by popular demand, Jason and Derek dig into their vast spreadsheets of automotive reviews. Rather than picking our favorite cars, a Random Number Generator calls up cells in their spreadsheet, forcing Jason and Derek to take a trip down memory lane — and then read aloud their sometimes-embarrassing commentary on cars they've driven in the past. Cars that they'd often forgotten about it. In this episode, we hear about some of the following cars: TVR Vixen Triumph TR6 2018 BMW M5 (F90-chassis...
Apr 03, 2023•48 min•Season 1Ep. 90
The Rimac Nevera is the fastest-accelerating car in the world, according to its manufacturer. When asked to verify that claim, automotive journalist Jason Cammisa responded with, "holy sh...excuse me." Derek Tam-Scott uttered similarly unsuitable words not fit for YouTube descriptions, though they were far more colorful. Rimac's 4-motor, torque-vectoring, carbon-tubbed masterpiece is capable of unleashing 1.4 megawatts (that's 1400 kW, 1877 SAE hp, 1914 metric HP, and the exact number doesn't ma...
Mar 27, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Derek Tam(Hyphen)Scott has waited for years for the chance to school Jason Cammisa on the importance of Lancia. Now reduced to little more than a badge-job, Italian-market joke, Lancia was once an automotive powerhouse. Derek speaks with interest and precision about Lancia's storied history — as if he was there, personally. It's a fascinating story that demonstrates just how incredible this Italian Automaker once was — and how resilient its spirit was. Once a champion of front-wheel drive rally ...
Mar 21, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 88
In this episode, Jason digs into his storied spreadsheet of reviews of every car he's ever driven. And we learn that Derek has a spreadsheet, too. With the help of a Random Number Generator that calls up cells in their spreadsheet, Jason and Derek take a trip down memory lane, reading aloud their sometimes embarrassing commentary on cars they've driven in the past. One entry of Jason's was so... NSFW... that he initially couldn't read it out loud. When he finally did, Derek was so shocked he sho...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 87
This episode is all about the Lotus Carlton and Lotus Omega. Lotus has only ever made one 4-door sedan, and this episode of the Carmudgeon show dovetails with Jason Cammisa's "Revelations" episode on the Lotus Carlton. A dream car of both hosts, the Carlt-Omega was based on the Opel Omega A, badged Vauxhall Carlton in the U.K.'s right-hand-drive market. It held the title of the fastest sedan in the world for a decade, achieving more than 177 mph, right as the German automakers agreed to limit th...
Feb 27, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 86
This week the Carmudgeons address the 48 billion market cap prancing horse in the room: do the younger generations actually care about Ferrari? Cars like the 296 GTB are absolutely gorgeous (and they mark the start of the mid-engine V8 to V6 transition in Maranello), but, if you're sourcing the vehicles from Ferrari themselves, are unable to be compared to any other vehicles that people may want to see them compete with. But, they're also vietato (forbidden) to have instrumented testing done on ...
Feb 20, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 85
In this podcast, Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott ("Hyphen") cover everything you didn't realize you wanted to know about the R129-chassis Mercedes-Benz SL. The R129 comes in many forms: 300SL, 300SL-24, 500SL, 600SL, and then the renamed SL320, SL500, and SL600. It had three different body styles and two interiors thanks to two facelifts, three different transmissions in the U.S. — a 4-speed automatic, a 5-speed automatic, and a 5-speed dogleg manual transmission. And the 500SL/SL500 had 3 dif...
Feb 13, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Now that the Bring-a-Trailer crowd have made 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s cars unaffordable, what happens to pre-1980s cars? Do they just fall out of favor like today's pre-war and brass-era cars? Or is the solution to get younger generations of car enthusiasts interested in pre 1980s cars? And then, how do you best preserve the cars of true interest from those periods so that younger generations can continue to have the option to be interested in them in the first place? Good questions! Tough questi...
Feb 06, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 83
You don't need to be rich to be a car hoarder, but storing your cars is a challenge no matter how much or little money you have. On this episode of The Carmudgeon Show, Jason and Derek discuss a crucial piece of being an enthusiast/having a car collection (of any size or value): vehicle storage! How to take something drab and make it fab, both of their personal vehicle storage solutions and even some *very* exclusive collection setups as well. Cars are meant to be driven — so how do you protect ...
Jan 30, 2023•53 min•Season 1Ep. 82
On this episode of The Carmudgeon Show, Jason tells Derek the sad tale of how Jason's Honda Beat got beat from behind a few weeks ago. Which then segues nicely into how while Jason ended up being ok, the Beat will also end up being ok due to the type of collector auto insurance Jason has on it... and you'll *never* guess which company he uses! All this and more, brought to you by the Hagerty Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 23, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 81
On this episode of The Carmudgeon Show, Jason and Derek talk about the Hagerty Bull Market list for 2023 and the companion video piece that Jason and his team created for it. (the tl:dr on Bull Market: Hagerty has a team of folks who nerd out on tracking vehicle values based on an assortment of data that only Hagerty can access. They then make a list of vehicles that they feel are a great value in terms of being an entry point into car collecting and that have the potential to, at a minimum, hol...
Jan 09, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Put on a beret and grab a baguette because on this week's episode of the Carmudgeon Show, Jason and Derek are talking about the French (in name and origin story at least) monster that is the Bugatti Chiron Pur Sport. As well as the Lucid Air Sapphire and the Tesla Plaid. Why? Because all of them were featured in Jason's most recent episode of "Cammisa's Ultimate Drag Race Replay," last week where Jason had the world-exclusive with the Sapphire and happened to set a production car 1/4 mile record...
Dec 19, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 79
On this episode of The Carmudgeon Show, Jason and Derek riff on a question that came up during a previous Q&A episode: do cars reflect where they come from? Does the country of origin impact how they're designed and engineered? Sweden, Germany, America, Japan, etc. how do these locations influence the end product that you end up driving? As always, Jason and Derek have their thoughts and they're ready to share. All this and more, brought to you by the Hagerty Podcast Network. Learn more about yo...
Dec 12, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 78
On this episode of The Carmudgeon Show, Jason and Derek discuss the future of Jaguar--the iconic automotive brand struggling to survive in today's market. All this and more, brought to you by the Hagerty Podcast Network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 77
On today’s episode, Jason and Derek are accompanied by a large pile of snacks to discuss the greatest Ferrari driving experiences of all time. Needless to say, all prancing horses have been FAR from created equal. Discussion revolves mostly around the F50, which surprises Derek in its accessibility after some recent seat time with reserved expectations. Jason follows up with his experience in the 288 GTO, which was nearly perfect- high praise, given Jason’s general disinterest in turbocharged po...
Nov 28, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Keep your fire extinguisher nearby, for today’s episode of the Carmudgeon Show covers the beginning and end of GM’s first mid-engine blaze of glory- none other than the Pontiac Fiero. Covered in depth in the latest Revelations video, the Fiero was a troubled car from the start, tasked with delivering sports car performance and exceptional fuel economy but having major challenges achieving either or. Jason reviews the timeline of the Fiero’s promises and ultimate demise for GM. In a continued dis...
Nov 21, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Back by popular demand, Jason and Derek return to answer more viewer/listener questions this week. Amongst many similar discussions from last week, topics of interest include: how to make electric cars fun, what generally hated cars are actually great, why the Ferrari F355 is actually terrible, Z3 vs Miata, and why even the best new analog cars will never match the sensation of old analog. And on the subject of old analog- have you always dreamed of owning a 1994 Hyundai Excel? If you resemble t...
Nov 14, 2022•2 hr 38 min•Ep. 74
On this week’s episode of The Carmudgeon Show, your questions become answers! Jason and Derek take a deep dive into last week’s audience questions and cover an array of mostly automotive topics, including but not limited to: driving nirvana in an attainable car, the pronunciation of coupe vs. coupé, cars that belong to the wrong manufacture, drum brakes on EVs, and you heard it here first- the new VW Phaeton V12 TDI. Many of this week’s questions will become the topics of future episodes, so if ...
Nov 07, 2022•2 hr 34 min•Ep. 73
The front-wheel-drive platform is one that has been historically not taken seriously by many driving enthusiasts. After all, given all of the responsibility of moving AND steering the vehicle while stuffing the weight of an engine over the front wheels, who wouldn’t agree that FWD is always the inferior choice to RWD? Today’s episode of The Carmudgeon Show is all about the unspoken glory of front-wheel-drive and its general tendency to be misunderstood by enthusiasts across the board. Despite ha...
Oct 31, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Carmudgeon returns! After a short break, Jason and Derek have returned to discuss the past, present, and future of Maserati- and at the end of the day, should they even exist at all in the current car market? There’s no doubt that the legacy Italian brand has taken a new shape molded by mass-market modern consumer tastes, influencing the birth of the Ghibli, Levante, and MC20. With V6 powertrains across the board, Jason and Derek, Maserati may have lost its’ way, lacking the character of even th...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 71
On this episode of the Carmudgeon Show, Jason and Derek discuss the world’s best sounding cars, embracing the cacophony of cylinder count and alignment, valves per cylinder, and other factors that make each engine a musical instrument of sorts. Following a discussion that begins with the Audi RS3 and a breakdown of five cylinder aural theory, Jason and Derek land on the V10-powered Porsche Carrera GT and Lexus LFA as the best sounding cars in the world. Despite having the same cylinder count and...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 70
