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The Horseless Age, the world's first magazine devoted solely to automobiles, was first published in 1895. Since that publication's debut, no man has gained more notoriety in the field of automotive journalism than Thomas Jay McCahill III. Born in 1907, McCahill is recognized as the father of the automotive road test. The generations of automotive journalists that have followed him in the business of reporting on cars will likely never match the zany, outrageous prose that became his trademark.

McCahill, who died in 1974, was a correspondent for Mechanix Illustrated magazine, which ended its run in the 1970's. During his tenure, which began in 1946, he performed more than 600 road tests. Uncle Tom (his self-created identity) was the best at what he did; he approached testing as if he owned the cars himself, and wanted to convey (in the most colorful terms) exactly what the car could and could not do. When he was finished, the reader had a near perfect picture in his mind regarding the car's abilities. Car companies either loved or cursed him, depending upon the evaluations he gave their products. Whether it was a superstar like the Chrysler 300 (one of his favorites, he owned several over the years) or an ordinary Rambler, McCahill was always thorough and brutally honest.

For a long time after WW2, the only magazine for true car nuts to read was Fawcett Publishing's Mechanix Illustrated. That was solely attributable to the writings of McCahill, who in the late 1940s invented the breezy, irreverent writing style that is copied to this day. He was idolized by car buffs across the country when Hot Rod, Motor Trend and Road & Track were just regional periodicals.

In 1953, the Yale Sports Car Club invited McCahill to speak at one of their events. He arrived in a sleek black Mexican Road Race Lincoln coupe, accompanied by his pair of equally sleek black Labrador Retrievers. Much to the surprise of the audience, he limped badly, assisted by a cane, having one leg shorter than the other from birth. Perhaps this is why he was almost always seated or leaning against a car when photographed. Apparently, few good pictures of him exist; I could find none.

Later in his career, McCahill operated from Ormond Beach, Florida, north of Daytona. If an auto company PR department wanted to get a test report of one of its cars into Mechanix Illustrated, it had to deliver the car to McCahill's relatively remote home. Lincoln-Mercury achieved a glowing review of a new Comet V-8 from McCahill in Mechanix Illustrated, but the puzzled district office , which had to deliver and retrieve the car, discovered that only a few miles had been put on the odometer while the car was in McCahill's hands. Most likely, he drove it just enough to stage the photos for the article. In all likelihood McCahill, who was also a heavy smoker, was ill at the time and was unable to conduct the kinds of tests he had done previously.

McCahill always liked Chrysler products, especially the 300 series. He often ran them full out on his "private" road, and even appeared at Daytona Speed week with a 300. His road tests remain today as a testament to his talents as well as the talents of the cars he evaluated. Several books written by McCahill are still available today.