It’s no secret we at MyStarCollectorCar are huge fans of the best automotive writer on the pages of a car magazine from the golden era of print, namely Tom McCahill from ‘Mechanix Illustrated’; the greatest scribe there ever was, in our opinion.
“Uncle Tom” McCahill was a test driver who pushed cars to the very edge (and sometimes well over it) during his long automotive journalist career at ‘Mechanix Illustrated’-and then put a magical array of words down in an MI article about his road adventures.
Jim Sutherland
McCahill became so popular that ‘Mechanix Illustrated’ added extra features so his wit and wisdom could be dispensed in more generous portions inside the monthly car magazine. McCahill’s musings shaped how we saw the car guy world and contributed to our fascination with the car hobby.

One ‘Mechanix Illustrated’ feature caught our attention in a big way: ‘Mail for McCahill‘. It was a section wherein readers submitted question about a variety of topics (mostly automotive-related) and Uncle Tom gave them sage advice in his answer. Tom’s answers were infused with his razor-sharp wit and worth every penny of the magazine’s cost, although we got every magazine free of charge because of fatherly subscriptions when we were kids.

However, we have revisited Tom McCahill as adults via acquisition of many vintage ‘Mechanix Illustrated’ magazines over the past few years and still marvel at his enormous writing skills.

It would be hard to narrow down McCahill’s articles to five examples of his best work because he set the bar so high, so we chose to focus on his late 1950s era because it was a remarkable time for the automotive world and Uncle Tom chronicled it (while thoroughly entertaining his readers) on the pages of ‘Mechanix Illustrated’. Plus, we were too young to be able to read them at the time.

Your picks may vary wildly from ours but here is our first Mail for McCahill pick from the July 1959 edition of ‘Mechanix Illustrated’.
Question: “I weigh a little over 300 pounds and drive about 40,000 miles a year, alone. After a few thousand miles the body of every car I’ve ever owned gets a set to the left, and some of my unfriendly friends kid me about this. Is there anything I can do to avoid this driver’s side sag?”
McCahill: “I assume you’ve heard of dieting and have found it unappealing. Aside from this, Air-Lifts on the driver’s side, or even a shock adjustment, would help a lot. With these adjustments, however, your car may lean to the passenger side when you get out. Have you considered a fat friend to ride with you in the passenger seat?”
The second Mail for McCahill question from the May 1956 issue:
Question: “My windshield is badly scraped and scratched up. This impairs my visibility. Can you tell me how to correct this?
McCahill: “Clean it with a big hammer.”

The third Mail for McCahill question was found in the July 1957 ‘Mechanix Illustrated’ edition:
Question: “A friend of mine said his Jeep FC-150 will easily do 90 mph”.
McCahill: “He must mean immediately after making a sharp right turn in the middle of the Golden Gate Bridge”.
The fourth Mail for McCahill question was found in the August 1956 ‘Mechanix Illustrated’ issue:
Question: “Everyone that rides with me insists on slamming the door when they get out. How should I stop this?”
McCahill: “Remove the car doors or change your friends.”
The fifth and final Mail for McCahill question was printed in their June 1958 magazine:
Question: “I’m planning to buy a 1958 wagon and would like some advice from you. Do you think a six-cylinder would provide enough power with an automatic transmission and air conditioning or would you recommend a V8?
McCahill: Enough power for what? An American six with air conditioning will take you to any point where the road is paved and it’ll do it a lot cheaper than the eight. If you want to get there faster, get the eight. Remember, speed costs dough.”

MyStarCollectorCar owes a big debt of gratitude to Tom McCahill for his mastery of the car guy written word. Rest assured we will revisit this topic once again in the future because it’s a trip down memory lane with plenty of laughs along the way.
Jim Sutherland
BY: Jim Sutherland
Jim Sutherland is a veteran automotive writer whose work has been published by many major print and online publications. The list includes Calgary Herald, The Truth About Cars, Red Deer Advocate, RPM Magazine, Edmonton Journal, Montreal Gazette, Windsor Star, Vancouver Province, and Post Media Wheels Section.
- CLICK HERE to Sign Up for the Newsletter
- CLICK HERE to Like us on Facebook
- CLICK HERE to Follow us on Twitter
- CLICK HERE to Follow us on Pinterest