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.
All content for The Carmudgeon Show is the property of Hagerty Media and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
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.
Why The Malaise Era Was Actually Good — Carmudgeon w/ Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 207
The Carmudgeon Show
1 hour 13 minutes
2 weeks ago
Why The Malaise Era Was Actually Good — Carmudgeon w/ Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 207
The Malaise Era, a period of the US auto industry from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s, was certainly not one that garners much enthusiasm or celebration from your typical modern day car enthusiast. The rather abrupt introduction of stricter emissions and safety standards, plus the demand for better fuel economy, gave US automakers quite the fight to stay relevant and afloat while Japanese manufactures infiltrated US market share.
Despite the struggle though, the Malaise Era was actually an important period of innovation that indirectly created a lot of important engineering and incredible cars. But why?
===
This episode is sponsored by Battery Tender.
Visit https://www.batterytender.com/ and use code HAGERTY20 for 20% off.
===
This week's episode follows Hagerty's latest Revelations video highlighting the Mercedes-Benz R129 SL - and how despite being at the end of a generation of Bruno Sacco cars, its original design was conceived all the way towards the beginning of the Malaise Era. Much of why the R129 took so long to develop was because Mercedes diverted engineering resources to the W201 "Baby Benz," the W124 "E-Class" and the M102 new family of downsized, fuel-efficient engines to hit American CAFE fuel-economy and emissions requirements. But much of why the R129 took so long to develop, partly due to the Malaise Era, is what made it so great throughout the 1980s and early 1990s.
Other cars, however - like the Ford Mustang II, Cadillac Cimarron, and Isuzu Pup - may not have enjoyed the same celebration (and likely never will...)
Jason and Derek also discuss the struggles of the US auto industry during this time - and how they're eerily related to the current US administration's removal of penalties for CAFE standards. Could we be entering an era where we erase all the progress we gained after the Malaise Era? Or will the free market allow for innovation in ways we may not expect?
All this and more, on this week's episode of The Carmudgeon Show.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Carmudgeon Show
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.
