What Tariffs Mean For Old Cars — The Carmudgeon Show w Jason Cammisa & Derek Tam-Scott — Ep. 187

A barrage of tariffs are foisted onto the automotive marketplace and throw a wrench into the car importing business (including Derek’s OTS and Co.). Are used cars affected? Not even ChatGPT knows. Jason wants to file a class action suit against VW for sunsetting 3G functionality in Mk7 cars, and Jay Leno puts his name behind California SB 712 to reduce the smog check burden on California-based classic car owners.

We’ll start off with 1980s turbocharged lag-mobiles: the Saab 99 Turbo, BMW 2002 Turbo, and Porsche 930. At the time, Lotus deemed this power curve and response time unacceptable and managed to create a significantly better turbocharged experience in the Esprit Turbo. So good in fact that it may be on par with the W124 Mercedes-Benz 300E with a Mosselman twin-turbo setup that Jason recently drove.

Next, Jason thinks a class action lawsuit is in order against VW of America. That’s because after 3G cell networks were shut down in 2022, VW failed to maintain the functionality of its Car-Net app that allowed for remote lock/unlock, cabin pre-heating, break-in alerts, charging start/stop and automatic crash notifications. Now, 3 years later, VW has admitted defeat, and has told owners that no fix will be provided. This is quite different from Tesla’s approach, who called in owners and upgraded their modems to run on the newer networks. Derek also notes the class action lawsuit against Mercedes when it was discovered that the clear coat on their Mars Red paint didn't last.

Then we dive into the tariff chaos. Mainly the 25% tax on all imported automobiles, which may be permanent like the “chicken tax” on imported trucks, or it may last a few hours? Does it apply to used vehicles? No one is sure. But Derek wasn’t waiting around to find out when OTS was facing a $700,000 duty on a car it was actively importing for a client. Ronald Reagan briefly weighs in on the effectiveness of tariffs, and EU-allergic Switzerland enters the chat. Plus Ford and Mercedes-Benz both have extensive experience evading tariffs from their time importing non-tariffed “passenger” vans into the States, only to have their technicians immediately convert them into cargo trucks by removing the seats and windows then shipping the pieces back to Europe for the next batch.

We’ll also cover various shipping methods (container vs "RoRo") as both Derek and Jason have experienced shipping cars overseas – both Derek’s W116 and W124 wagon made the voyage across the Atlantic, as did Jason’s E30 Touring and 190E 2.3-16. We’ll talk Boeing 747 8F cargo planes, RoRo cargo ships, 20- and 40-foot containers, and all of their associated pros, cons and costs.

We’ll also dive into the used car market and recent auction results. Why are similar cars fetching wildly different prices at major auctions and on websites like Bring A Trailer? Derek and Jason both weigh in on the factors at play, including two recent BMW 850CSi sales.

Lastly, we’ll touch on California SB712, now nicknamed Leno’s Law. A new law working its way through the California legislature that aims to reduce the smog check burden on classic car owners and collectors (as well as the repair shops burdened with maintaining dynamometers for a dwindling pool of cars requiring one for proper smog testing).

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices