December 2023 - Andy and Mercedes // Alcan 5000 Outback
Hello! Andy and Mercedes Lilienthal from Portland, OR here! We’re both freelance automotive journalists, PR and marketing professionals, and adventure seekers. We regularly take our 2022 Subaru Crosstrek (6MT) out on a host of travels and use it to compete in time-speed-distance (TSD) rallies around the Pacific Northwest. We also competed twice in the Alcan 5000 Rally, which is over 5,000 miles in just 10 days. In ’22 we used a ’22 Subaru Outback Wilderness and partnered with Subaru of America to do so. One of the only modifications we made to that car was a Rally Innovations Light Bar, which came in super helpful. We liked it so much that we installed one on our Crosstrek.
In addition to rallying and exploring, we write for a variety of different online and print publications and help clients in the automotive and outdoor spaces with PR and marketing through our business Crankshaft Consulting. We also run our own website, Crankshaft Culture, where we cover all sorts of automotive endeavors. We like to say that we’re “united by horsepower.” No matter what you drive or ride, we all love the same thing: vehicles. We believe “every vehicle is an adventure,” and you can do cool things with pretty much any mode of transportation.