There is perhaps no more iconic 1980s supercar than the Ferrari Testarossa. But the Testarossa has a big secret: it’s not a supercar. Oh, it has the performance in spades — but it’s actually a civilized grand tourer in personality. 

That’s what surprises nearly everyone who drives one for the first time. It’s comfortable. Exceedingly quiet. It rides well. Other than unassisted steering and being wider than a full-size pickup truck, the Testarossa is an easy car to drive. Once it’s warmed up, that is.

On this week’s episode, Derek and Jason discuss all things Testarossa - from its crankiness when cold to its beginnings as a 365 BB and 512BB and its ending as a 512TR and 512M. BB has never stood for Berlinetta Boxer — how could it, when the Testarossa’s red-headed flat-12 isn’t a “boxer” engine? (It’s a flat-12, a horizontally opposed 12, or a 180-degree V-12, but not a Boxer, because opposing pistons share crankpins.) 

Also, they discuss whether its BB name stands for Berlinetta Bialbero (twin-cam coupe, which would be weird because Ferrari already had a DOHC version of its V-12) or whether it was actually named after Brigitte Bardot. Then, there are the Monospecchio cars with center-lock wheels versus the later cars with two mirrors and five-lug wheels.

And then there are the inevitable comparisons to the Lamborghinis - the Miura and Countach, as well as the BMW E31 8-series and the front-engine Ferrari GTs and sports cars, including the Daytona.

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 250 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.
 
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