I figure that on this forum there is probably a good liklihood of finding several old-timers who remember Tom Macahill. He wrote automotive related reports for Mechanics Illustrated for years in the '50s and '60s. Just out of curiosity, I have been trying to find any biographical information about him. I have searched the internet with no luck. There were only two or three items which just mentioned his writing in passing. Does anyone here know anything about his life, where he lived, when he was born, died, etc? I remember as a teen-ager reading his curmudgeonly styled car reviews with delight. I can still see his portly frame leaning against the fender with a pipe in his hand.
Tom Macahill
- Thread starter thiggy
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Wow, haven't thought of old Tom in quite a while. Way back in high school study halls, among other things I dug out all the old issues of MI & read all the old car tests & columns by Tom McCahill. "Just the thing for hauling the gang down to Sullivan's Saloon & Sudsbucket"
They don't make 'em like him these days, that's for sure.
Speaking of MI- does anyone remember Mimi?
They don't make 'em like him these days, that's for sure.
Speaking of MI- does anyone remember Mimi?
Yep, even 'thoguh I'm 38, I remember Tom fondly.
My Grandad subscribed to Mechanix Illustrated (he wanted to make his fortune as a T.V. repair technician), and I loved reading them.
Unfortunately, my Grandma threw a whole lot of them out.
I've got an issue where he tests a GT40, but that's about all.
I still like the one where he drove a hugely powerful dodge DOWN Pike's Peak...4 wheel drums.
My Grandad subscribed to Mechanix Illustrated (he wanted to make his fortune as a T.V. repair technician), and I loved reading them.
Unfortunately, my Grandma threw a whole lot of them out.
I've got an issue where he tests a GT40, but that's about all.
I still like the one where he drove a hugely powerful dodge DOWN Pike's Peak...4 wheel drums.
Noted automotive historian Richard Langworth wrote an extensive piece on McCahill in Automobile Quarterly a number of years back, then revised the article for Collectible Automobile a few years ago. Collectible Automobile sells copies of back issues, and this one could still be available. McCahill apparently had no children and was supposedly the last surviving descendant of the historical Scottish figure Rob Roy.
Mechanix Illustrated (MI), published by Fawcett, never really seemed to recover from the blow of McCahill's death in 1975, and as the years went by it covered the car scene less and less. It was always third to the more established Popular Science and Popular Mechanics anyway, and a sister Fawcett magazine, Science & Mechanics, did even worse and folded as a monthly in 1975. (Special issues of S&M appeared occasionally into the 1980s. In its heyday in the 1960s S&M was almost like a sensationalistic version of MI.)
Fawcett sold MI to CBS, and the name of the magazine changed to Home Mechanix in 1984. Little about cars appeared after the name change. Later the magazine became Today's Homeowner and finally folded for good in the mid-1990s. The publishers of the magazine This Old House, which is linked to the old PBS TV series of the same name, evidently now have the MI rights and, presumably, the assets, according to what I found on the Internet a few years ago.
Thought you might find this interesting. MI's fortunes were tied to McCahill's. When he went, it was just a matter of time before the magazine—in the form it had then—followed.
Mechanix Illustrated (MI), published by Fawcett, never really seemed to recover from the blow of McCahill's death in 1975, and as the years went by it covered the car scene less and less. It was always third to the more established Popular Science and Popular Mechanics anyway, and a sister Fawcett magazine, Science & Mechanics, did even worse and folded as a monthly in 1975. (Special issues of S&M appeared occasionally into the 1980s. In its heyday in the 1960s S&M was almost like a sensationalistic version of MI.)
Fawcett sold MI to CBS, and the name of the magazine changed to Home Mechanix in 1984. Little about cars appeared after the name change. Later the magazine became Today's Homeowner and finally folded for good in the mid-1990s. The publishers of the magazine This Old House, which is linked to the old PBS TV series of the same name, evidently now have the MI rights and, presumably, the assets, according to what I found on the Internet a few years ago.
Thought you might find this interesting. MI's fortunes were tied to McCahill's. When he went, it was just a matter of time before the magazine—in the form it had then—followed.
A publisher in LA was told that the current owner of MI rights distroyed all the automotive related stores and information, not worth the storage. I hopt that's wrong.
He was the best writer. Not techno-geek, or seconds-shaving, dreary info, but using and driving the cars for long periods of time. Never the self-importance of later writers.
http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/64McCahill/index.htm
http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/Uncle_T/uncle_t.html
http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/64McCahill/index.htm
http://www.imperialclub.com/Articles/Uncle_T/uncle_t.html
I remember that guy! Blast from the past. He wrote up my Uncle George's Lamborghini Espada in the early 70s. They were pretty rare back then. V-12, pretty fast. They tested it in Daytona at the Speedway. McCahill drove it 170MPH, which was honkin for a street car back then. Unk's name was George Pappas, if anyone has access to those atricles from that era, I'd love to have a copy..
This thread was really a blast from the past, thanks for remembering..
This thread was really a blast from the past, thanks for remembering..
Go check out Lamborghini websites. Car love is only stories, in the end. Somebody has likely bought it and posted it.
I loved all those mechanical type magazines when I was a kid. They ruined all of them by switching to the larger format (used to be something like 7 x 10 inches). Another guy that I think maybe had a column in one of those magazines was Smokey Yunick, a race car builder.
I think Smokey Yunick wrote for Popular Mechanics.
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