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 of the best writers in the business, but crashed a lot of cars. There were Camry Dents, tire blowouts in a Mk5 GTI, a crunched Lotus Elise, and a Ford GT spun into a culvert. 

There exist no photos of those accidents, but Jason does have an old video of his Ann Arbor steep-driveway tire test: a Range Rover Sport on summer tires vs a GMC Acadia on all-seasons versus a Chevy Suburban on winters. The results are amazing.

You can find Sam's podcast here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjPn6_Dtiq4umtc-E0_SbIQ

The BABE Rally Story:
https://www.motortrend.com/features/2007-big-apple-to-big-easy/

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The Carmudgeon Show is part of the Hagerty Podcast Network
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Crashing Many Cars with Sam Smith — The Carmudgeon Show with Jason Cammisa & ISSIMI's Derek — Ep 93

Part of the Hagerty Podcast Network, the Carmudgeon Show is a comedic, information-filled conversation with Jason Cammisa and Derek Tam-Scott, two car enthusiasts who are curmudgeonly beyond their years. Proving you don’t have to be old to be grumpy, they spend each episode talking about what’s wrong with various parts of the automotive universe. Despite their best efforts to keep it negative, they usually wind up laughing, happy, and extolling their love for cars. Which just makes them angrier and more bitter.

Jason Cammisa is an automotive journalist, social-media figure, and TV host with over 300 million views on YouTube alone. Jason’s deeply technical understanding, made possible by a lifelong obsession with cars, allows him to fully digest what’s going on within an automobile — and then put it into simple terms for others to understand. Also, a Master’s Degree in Law trained him to be impossible to argue with.

Derek Tam-Scott still tries. He’s a young automotive expert with old-man taste in cars, and a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering — which means he knows how to be civil to Jason. Or at least he tries. With a decade and a half’s experience buying, selling, driving and brokering classic and exotic cars, he’s experienced the world’s most iconic cars. And hated most of them.

Comedy

Automotive

Games & Hobbies

Leisure

This week, the Carmudgeons recap their recent 600-mile back-road blast, which resulted in a surprise Best Car for the Mission. Unrelated, an update on their newly-acquired V-12 cars.

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This episode is sponsored by Vyper Industrial — America’s #1 rated shop chair, tool carts, and creepers, proudly made here in the US. Go to https://www.vyperindustrial.com/ and use code HAGERTY for $50 off on all your order!

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Jason and Derek now both own V-12-powered cars. Jason confesses his 850 CSI purchase, which happened while he was doing research for an upcoming Revelations episode. Derek lit his on fire while learning that it needs an engine rebuild.

Turns out the BMW 850CSi has the shortest gear ratios of any V-12 car ever sold — and Jason is a self-described whore for short gearing. 

Meanwhile, Derek bought a V12, manual Ferrari that has no compression in several cylinders.

The main subject of the episode is one of Jason and Derek's many friend-group backroad trips in Northern California. As usual, it was a varied group of cars:

Jason brought "Beatrice," his E30 BMW 325i sedan.
Derek brought his race-prepped Mk5 Volkswagen GTI.
Also present was a BMW Z3 2.8, an NA Miata, a GR Corolla, and one car that was very much not appropriate for tight mountain roads: 

A C126 Mercedes 560SEC. 

And the Mercedes was, by far, everyone's favorite. Wildly obese and far too large, with non-performance tires, the W126-chassis Mercedes should have been miserable. And what it instead demonstrated was perfect chassis balance, an indefatigable, 300-hp Euro/Japan-spec 5.5-liter engine, and a riotous time.

Sometimes, it's the wrong car on the right road that's the most fun.
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The Most Fun You Can Have — The Carmudgeon Show w/ Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep 148

It's largely being reported in the media that Electric Vehicles are in trouble — sales are down, inventory is up, and customers just aren't interested. Is any of this true? 

...or is this just a blip in the now-unavoidable transition away from combustion vehicles?

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Special Tuesday Episode: Happy Memorial Day!

Hyundai is making great EVs. BMW is making really good EVs. Tesla (despite the controversy) is still selling the dickens out of its cars — and the new "Highland" Model 3 is nearly perfect.

But the rest of the industry? Perhaps no one is interested in their cars because the cars are crap. We don't know.

But the Carmudgeons certainly have opinions on it.
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Is The EV Market Actually Doomed? — The Carmudgeon Show w/ Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep 147

This is an inclusive list of every V-12 passenger car engine ever produced — with information, opinion, and the possibility that the V-12 isn't actually the best engine layout.

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Update: The data sharing programs from Honda, Hyundai (Verisk) and General Motors (Lexis Nexis) that we covered in Episode 143 have all been cancelled. Score one for Data Privacy and for Car Enthusiasts!

This episode stems from the quote from former Car and Driver editor (and founder of Automobile Magazine) David E. Davis, who said: “I firmly believe that everyone who is worth anything at all should own a 12-cylinder car before they die,”

We pose the question: why?

And then answer it with technical information about the V-12 engine layout, and discuss all of them — including defining the chapters of the V-12:

1. Prehistoric Luxury V12s.
2. Carbureted Performance/Racing V12s
3. Fuel-injected V12s.
4. Modern V12s.

Enjoy!
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The V12 Is(n't) the Ultimate Engine — The Carmudgeon Show w Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep 146

Y'all never thought it was going to happen, but here it is — whether you've seen the ICONS video or not, this is one to watch!

HOODIE: https://tinyurl.com/CammisaHoodie

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After years of teasing, the Carmudgeon Show is finally covering the life and achievements of Ferdinand Piëch. This is where the idea began, and the boys provide far more in-depth information than Jason could cover in the relatively short ICONS episode.

Enjoy, and thanks for the patient wait!
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The Full Piëchisode Podcast Bonus! — The Carmudgeon Show w Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep 145

After a quick review of the updated (and even better) 2024 Mazda MX-5 Miata, the boys delve into the long-awaited Piëchisode by talking about the cars it featured.

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Included in this episode is a review and discussion of:
2024 Mazda Miata MX-5 (ND3)
1973 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 RS
1980 Mercedes-Benz 300SD Turbodiesel (W116)
1985 Audi Coupe Quattro (Ur-Quattro)
2002 Volkswagen Golf TDI (Mk4)
2004 Volkswagen Golf R32 (Mk4)
2004 Volkswagen Phaeton W12
2006 Bugatti Veyron 16.4
2014 Volkswagen XL1
2024 Bentley Continental GT Speed W12

and a small discussion of Ferdinand Piëch, Dieselgate, and corporate conscience (Boeing, The Ford Pinto)

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Crashing Many Cars with Sam Smith — The Carmudgeon Show with Jason Cammisa & ISSIMI's Derek — Ep 93

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