The Carmudgeon Show

We’ve just spent the week in Scottsdale, Arizona for the annual collector-car auction spectacular, visiting the auctions put on by Gooding & Company, Bonhams, Barrett-Jackson, Russo and Steele, RM Southebys, and Leake. In this special episode of the Carmudgeon Show, filmed on location in Scottsdale, Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott discuss why these auctions are important even to car nerds who aren’t big-dollar collectors...

In this episode, Jason and Derek contemplate a recent BringATrailer auction where a 1971 Datsun 240Z sold for $315,000 ($310,000 plus fees.)

It’s a well-known thing in the collector car world that rarity is often a multiplier for any inherently desirable car’s value. It’s simple supply and demand. It follows, then, that cars produced in extremely limited numbers, like the Toyota 2000GT, would be expensive, but mass-produced common cars like the Datsun 240Z wouldn’t...

In the 1970s and 1980s, the hottest cars had turbochargers: things like the BMW 2002 Turbo, Saab 99 and 900 Turbo, and the 930 Porsche 911 Turbo were the pioneers. Then, supercars like the Ferrari 288 GTO and F40 changed our perception of what “fast” really meant.

But today, it’s the cars without the turbos that stand out — among others, the Porsche 911 GT3, the Ferrari 812 Superfast, the Lamborghini Huracan and Aventador. Today, na is the new turbo...

Who invented the sport sedan? — The Carmudgeon Show — Ep. 16

Here’s a hint: it ain’t BMW. Derek and Jason postulate that Alfa Romeo invented the sport sedan at about the same time that BMW was making things like the Isetta bubble-car. 

This episode is an information-packed, hour-long discussion about the origin of the sports sedan — and what that term even means. There’s a difference between a sedan that’s fast in a straight line (Mercedes 6.3, 6...

Badges, emblems, signs, and stickers: this week’s Carmudgeon show is all about why so many cars have badges for seemingly irrelevant things. Trim-level badging apparently helps with resale values, but why is it necessary to tell the cars behind you that you have Tuned Port Injection?

Jason and Derek take an illustrated trip down memory lane, discussing the coolest (and silliest) badges ever put on cars...

Derek finally drove two modern sedans, the Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio and the Tesla Model 3 Dual Motor Performance. They both blew his mind, but he only wants one for himself. That said, he thinks everyone else should buy the other. 

In this episode, Jason and Derek stumble across an idea of how to save Alfa Romeo in the U.S. — and why Tesla Model 3 has proven so popular...

There aren’t many, but there are some SUVs that Derek and Jason love. And they have one thing in common: authenticity. They’re all trucks in the traditional sense — Land Rover Defender, Range Rover Classic, Lamborghini LM002, Mercedes G-Class, Suzuki Sidekick and Geo Tracker, and of course the TJ Jeep Wrangler.

[NOTE: This episode was recorded in early March 2020 before the Coronavirus Social Distancing measures went into effect...

Having a transaxle is one of the most reliable signs that a car is cool. At least that’s the theory — and we’re not talking about front-wheel-drive cars here. In this episode, Derek and Jason discuss front-engine, rear-wheel-drive cars that have their transmission mounted in back. 

There are only a handful of transaxle sedans ever made, and they’re all cool. There are only slightly more sports cars engineered with this layout...

It sounds daunting, but buying a car abroad is not difficult. Long before they even knew each other, both Jason and Derek had each turned a summer European vacation into a car-buying extravaganza. Importing a 25-year-old car into the U.S. isn’t difficult at all, and duty isn’t expensive.

[NOTE: This episode was recorded in early March 2020 before the Coronavirus Social Distancing measures went into effect...

Quarantine and lockdown can’t stop the boys from being Carmudgeons, so nothing has really changed, except that Derek and Jason recorded this episode while in different counties. This episode, recorded at what is likely to be just the start of the Coronavirus’ global impact, discusses the likelihood that the pandemic does nothing but accelerate the changes we’ve already begun to see in the automotive world...