Great Automotive Journalists

[cairns]

Discussing how bad Panorama is got me to thinking about the bests in automotive journalism. There are so many authors it's hard to decide who I like most but there's one that affected my life more than any other- because I was a very, very young impressionable youth when I started reading him. And because I loved his style ("handles like a hippo in a mud slide") and he really got me interested in cars. Anyway my choice is Tom McCahill (whose biography I lifted from Hemmings and show below). Who's yours and why? (my second would be Denis Jenkinson BTW)

"Since we can confirm that The Horseless Age, the world's first magazine devoted solely to automobiles, was first published in 1895, it's also an indisputable fact that Thomas Jay McCahill III, born in 1907, was not the first guy to write about cars. What is also beyond dispute is this: More than any other writer, McCahill is the father of the automotive road test as we know it today. Yet the generations of automotive journalists (that term didn't exist in McCahill's heyday, which bloomed just after World War II) that have followed him in the business of reporting on cars will likely never match the zany, outrageous, but always flatly honest prose that became his trademark.

In the years since McCahill's death, the automotive historian Richard M. Langworth has been among the most energetic in keeping McCahill's memory alive. McCahill was a correspondent--never a salaried staff member--for the long-defunct Mechanix Illustrated magazine. During his tenure, which began in 1946, he cranked out more than 600 road tests. Put it this way: If Groucho Marx was the king of the wisecrack, and Henny Youngman the master of the one-liner, then Uncle Tom (his self-created identity) was to the simile what Joe Montana was to the two-minute drill. Langworth even went so far as to compile a glossary of McCahill-isms.


On the 1957 Buick's handling: "Like a fat matron trying to get out of a slippery bathtub." On re-powering the 1955 Packards: "Changing to a V-8 was like Harry Truman voting Republican." On the 1957 Ford's build quality: "Rugged as an Irish riot in a Russian saloon." On the effectiveness of the 1958 Chrysler Imperial's air conditioning: "Cold enough to blue the lips of an Eskimo blubber collector parked inside a blast furnace." On the 1956 AMC Rambler's size: "As short as a Sing Sing haircut."

And so on. McCahill also had his own terminology for individual cars and colors, to the effect of "nitroglycerine stuff (1951 Studebaker V-8)," "geranium pot (Triumph Herald sedan)," "redder than a wino's nose," "manhole black" and perhaps most famously, "moose-nose brown."

While John R. Bond and Ken Purdy were equally formidable forces in advancing the causes of automotive journalism and history, the great sweep of American magazine readers had clearly never seen or read the likes of Uncle Tom before. The 6-foot-1-inch McCahill was statuesque and powerfully built, weighing 250 pounds and proudly bald.

He was born in Larchmont, New York, and at the time of his death, was believed to be the only known surviving descendant of the notorious Scottish highwayman Rob Roy. His grandfather had been an enormously successful lawyer, and left both McCahill and his father a monumental fortune. McCahill's father had been a football All-American at Yale, and the son was determined to follow in his footsteps.

A prep school injury, however, shortened one of his legs by an inch, leaving him with a permanent limp. While McCahill was admitted to Yale, he graduated with a degree in fine arts. His first madcap venture in the early 1930s was peddling "Native Hawaiian Sun Oil"--its principal ingredient was iodine--to swimmers on Rye Beach, New York, with promotional help from his swimming buddy, the film star Johnny Weismuller.

McCahill, who was already interested in cars, used the proceeds to buy an Imperial with Locke coachwork. He briefly operated the Murray Garage in Manhattan, repairing Rolls-Royces, but the Depression deep-sixed the business. It was then that he first attempted freelance writing, selling fiction and stories on marine engines to titles such as Yachting, Popular Science and Reader's Digest. Next, he hit upon the notion that an auto-starved wartime public might be interested in factual articles on new cars, rather than just manufacturer advertising. He sold the idea to Mechanix Illustrated, and convinced skeptical automakers--who had never lent their products out for independent testing--that he only wanted to photograph the cars. When the articles showed up in print and captivated the readership, thanks to McCahill's wacky writing style, the manufacturers were forced to capitulate. Soon, his reviews were viewed with both anticipation and dread by the industry.

McCahill became the magazine's public face, and the industry quickly realized that his review could make or break a product instantly. For example, when he drove the 1948 Futuramic 98, the first redesigned post-war Oldsmobile, he said that hitting the accelerator, "Was like stepping on a wet sponge." Olds dealers were incensed, but it was widely known that McCahill's rant motivated them to put the Rocket V-8 into the lighter 88.

McCahill relied only on his stopwatch and measured miles he'd staked out in New Jersey, Florida and California, marking them only with splashes of paint to keep their locations secret. He was the first automotive writer to record the now-standard 0-60 mph acceleration time.

McCahill spent his last years in Ormond Beach, Florida, and died May 10, 1975. As the Canadian automotive historian Bill Vance recalled, he had lost a leg that became gangrenous after a thorn penetrated it on one of his beloved duck hunts, forcing its amputation.

Don Chaikin, now automotive editor at Popular Mechanics magazine, was a McCahill contemporary early in his career. As he remembered, "At his peak, his stuff was brilliant. Mechanix Illustrated never publicly acknowledged his death, because his name was synonymous with it, he was the franchise, and they didn't want to admit he was gone. For a while, they ran a column called Tom McCahill Reports that was ghostwritten by his stepson.

"Clearly, he was a gentleman of a different era," Chaikin said."

[RWebb]

Jenks

and David E. Davis - just his classic article on the 2002 was adequate for admission to the top auto writers club...

[TGTIW]

Clarkson has written some wonderful stuff in his time.

[ZOO]

Peter Egan, for me, is one of the best. I also still enjoy John Phillips (who writes for Car and Driver). Indeed, he's the only thing CD still has going for it.

[jtfreels]

Henry Manney

[onlycafe]

warren weith.

[daepp]

Peter Egan and Brock Yates.

[Noah930]

Peter Egan and Sam Posey.

edit: And, from reading stories from the Mulholland thread, if Dave Bouzaglou ever puts some of his stories down on paper, I'd be first in line for that book.

[tchanson]

Originally Posted by onlycafe

warren weith.

Warren Weith was fantastic.

I'd add Charles Fox as well.

And Satch, back when AutoWeek was a tabloid and before his ...indiscretions.

LJK Setright was in a class all his own. Sometimes in a very odd universe of his own. His last book before he died, "Drive On!: A Social History of the Motor Car" is a wonderful piece of work.





Tim

[Z-man]

Peter Egan. His wit combined with his wonderful stories and car knowledge makes for a terrific read.

David E. Davis. The true definition of what a gentleman should be. He spoke at our local PCA monthly meeting. I had the pleasure of driving him back to his hotel. He said that my 11 year old Subaru Legacy had a better ride than the club president's 911 Turbo S2!!

[Nine17]

Old school: Ken Purdy in the U.S. and "Muttering Rotter" George Bishop in the U.K.

Joe Lorio is doing some great stuff these days in Automobile.

[serge944]

I like C/D's John Phillips. His article on the first Escalade EXT (don't laugh), which he dubbed the "Escalanche" for its similarity to the Avalanche, was pure gold.

[kycarguy 935]

I agree Peter Egan. He is a wonderful person to talk to also. He was next door neighbors with a good friend of mine in Costa Mesa for many years before moving to I believe it was Wisconsin.

[Keith Perry]

Jean Shepperd. Remember droves of C&D subscribers canceled that 'commie rag'? HaHaHa.

[David McLaughlin]

I'm also in the Peter Egan camp. I ordered all of the books (reprints from R&T over the years) that he put out. Great stuff.

[304065]

LJK Setright

[pwd72s]

When Peter Egan stops writing for R&T, I stop subscribing to R&T.

[Zeke]

Satch Carlson (sp?)

[on2wheels52]

Not an RT reader but Peter Egan has been one of the better features of Cycle for some time.
Jim

[KarlCarrera]

Peter Egan. I have enjoyed his style over the years. One of my favorites had to do, or referred to the look of terror on the driver's face as the 917 was at speed on the mulsanne (sp) straight at Le Mans.

Karl
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