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Revision as of 00:39, 9 November 2006 by Randazzo56 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Tom McCahill ( 1907-1975) was an automotive journalist born to a wealthy Mercedes dealer in New York. He is credited with, amongst other things, the creation of the "0 to 60" acceleration measurement universally accepted in automotive testing. He became a salesman for Marmon and in the mid 1930s owned and operated dealerships in Manhatten and Palm Springs, featuring Rolls Royce, Jaguar and other high-line luxury cars.
Journalist and Automobile Critic
An attempt at freelance writing after his businesses failed lead to stories featured in Readers Digest and Popular Science. Deciding that writing about automomobles would be more lucrative than trying to sell them, he posed as a photographer and gained access to several General Motors cars. He began selling his articles to Mechanix Illustrated Magazine ("M.I.") in February 1946, reporting on his own 1946 Ford. His opinions were fearless and this endeared him to some in the automotive world but created enemies too. He was a personal friend of Walter P. Chrysler and appreciated the handling and performance characteristics of Chryslers in the late 1950s and 1960s. One the other hand, many of his opinions were far less than favorable. For example, he reported in a 1949 road test that the new Dodge, with its semi-automatic transmission, was a "Dog". He considered early 1950s Chevrolets mundane and utilitarian. On many of his earlier road tests, his Wife Cynthia woould accompany him as his photographer, and allmost allways his black Labrador Retreaver. His later assistent was professional driver and photographer Jim McMicheal, who was photographed sitting-or laying-in the trunk of every make tested, and was known as the trunk tester.
He frequently used extreme metaphores and similies in his prose. For example, in M.I. he described the AC Cobra as "hairier than a Borneo gorilla in a racoon suit". As a wizard of hyperbole, McCahill was apparently unconcerned about the fact that there aren't any gorillas in Borneo.
Racing
In 1952 McCahill entered his own Jaguar Mark VII sedan in the Daytona Beach NASCAR speed trials and won in the Sedan class. Each year he attended and reported on World reknowed speed events, especialy the twenty four hours of Lemans in France. He purchased the first Thunderbird built and raced it successfully in the 1955 Daytona speed trials. The Tom McCahill trophy was named for him. He was a personal friend of Briggs Cunningham and drove the fastest cars in the world. McCahill extensivly reported on every car imported to the U.S., this in the early fiftys, all the while rediculing the U.S. Automakers for their excesses, along with U.S. soft suspensions and poor handling qualities. McCahill chose to live in Florida as its climate permitted owning such cars as his Jaquar Sedan, corrosion problems inherant with this type of car compounded by the Eastern climate.
Favorite vehicles
In the 600 road tests he performed and reported on, his favorite cars were the 1953 Bentley Continetal and the 1957-62 Chrysler Imperials, which he owned as his personal vehicles. In 1950 he purchased a new Ford and proceded to "hop it up" by switching to high-performance heads and manifolding. He then tested the car extensively and noticed a 90 mile an hour cruising speed. The car became known as the "M.I. Ford" as it was frequently featured in the Magazine. The wise and cosiderate McCail de-tuned the car before selling it with excessive mileage. The fear of mechanical failure at speed concerned McCail with the safety of any future owner. He purchased a new 1952 Cadillac series 62 sedan which he eventualy raced in Nascar speed week events. He also purchased new and reported on the '54 Jeep CJ3A, stating that while his Lincoln was the finest road car available at the time, in the end, the Jeep was the best idea that mankind had ever made. He claimed it would outrun a contemporary M.G.
Sounding Off
In a 1958 M.I. article McCahill accused the U.S. Auto Industry of causing the recession and poor auto sales of 1958 by standardizing styling and eliminating factory- or factory-sanctioned racing. He focused on A.M.C.'s George Romney, who claimed that the Rambler handled better than U.S. full-size makes. McCahill performed tests to prove him wrong. He was at odds with Walter Reuther of the U.A.W. over the issue of poor quality in U.S. cars and the fact that European imports- at the time SAAB and Volvo in particular- were of high quality, outstanding performers and no more costly than a good used car for those who could not afford a new domestic car. McCahill railed against unfair trade with Canada and Europe. He demanded that the U.S. stop accepting imports and, in lieu of war reperations, force England, Canada and France (where one could purchase an English or German car, but no U.S. makes) to accept the forced sale of hundreds of thousands of used U.S. cars, a plan which he claimed would increase the sale of new vehicles by more than six million annually over the following five years, thus significantly accelerating the U.S. economy.
Personal details, hobbies etc.
Tom stood six feet two. He was an avid hunter and fisherman and spent much time aboard his one hundred fifty foot boat "The Rooster",.Tom had homes in Florida and New York, where he would receive cars to test. Each year, with the coming of winter, he would sail from his home in New York to a dock near his home in Florida. He travelled all over the United States and Europe to facilite testing.
He was married and had a stepson but was without issue. McCahill died at his home at age 68 in 1975. His widow died in Daytona Beach, Florida.
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