Feature Confirmed! Andy & Mercedes Lilienthal

Here they come!

If you and your special someone feel like the status quo just isn’t cutting it anymore, if you feel like you need an adventure, something empowering in your life together—but you’re not sure how you could ever pull it off—you’re gonna want to get to know Andy and Mercedes Lilienthal.

Why Andy & Mercedes?

For starters, they’re a husband-and-wife team of gearhead adventurers with a proven track record of aligning their personal and professional lives in pursuit of work-life parallel.

Just over half our super issue special features are married. No doubt there’s a lot of support and team effort stories to come, but as far as I know, Andy and Mercedes are the only two actively working on the dream together as formal partners. So I think this one is particularly special.

You can’t ignore your spouse or family and expect to be successful at anything other than being a complete asshole. That’s a given. Andy and Mercedes are in because I think it will be interesting to see how they complement each other in the journey to parallel.

How about that adventurist life?

I met Andy and Mercedes back when Chazz and I were standing up the ill-fated Adventurist Life magazine. I’ve loved these two ever since.

They run SubCompact Culture and Crankshaft Culture, two sites reflecting their love for seemingly conflicting automotive pursuits—subcompact cars and off-road adventures.

I mean, consider this stable of vehicles:

• Subaru Impreza WRX
• Suzuki Sidekick
• Jeep XJ
• Toyota Yaris
• Mitsubishi Mirage
• Mitsubishi Delica Space Wagon (JDM)
• Mitsubishi Pajero (JDM)
• Mitsubishi Pajero (JDM)

They’ve since sold the Subaru, Sidekick, and XJ, but they still have the Yaris. Which means the two of them currently own five vehicles, three of which are 25-year old Mitsubishis never sold in North America, and a new Mitsubishi Mirage.

On top of that, Andy works in the industry, as Strategic Communications Manager for Warn Industries, a household name anywhere dirt roads are loved. And Mercedes (relatively) recently left a job at Nike to chase her dream of being a full-time freelance creative.

How do they do it?

That’s what we’re going to find out!

Look, I could go on and on about Andy and Mercedes Lilienthal—and I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention Mercedes’ (and Elise Bent) competing in the 2018 Rebelle Rally—but here’s the rub—they’re chasing the big dream. They’re driving cool vehicles to cool places and doing cool things with them. Follow them on Instagram—Andy & Mercedes—and see for yourself.

So if you and your other half are thinking about what’s next—and would like some ideas how to chase that big dream together—you’re gonna want to catch our conversation with Andy and Mercedes.

Would you like to know more?

Andy was in Episode 3 of The Gearhead Project Podcast, and Mercedes was in Episode 19.