Honda has announced that the new 2026 Passport TrailSport is currently competing in the Alcan 5000 Rally, North America’s longest endurance time-speed-distance rally. The unmodified SUV will be piloted by the inexhaustible motoring power couple Andy and Mercedes Lilienthal (crankshaftculture.com ), who previously won the 2S class in the 2024 winter edition of the event. Spanning September 2–12, the rally…

Expedition Portal contributors Andy and Mercedes Lilienthal knew they had a huge challenge ahead of them when they entered the 40th Anniversary Alcan 5000 Rally. The Lilienthal team (known also as Crankshaft Culture) are Alcan veterans, but this year would be different. The unpredictable road conditions, the tricky TSD (time-speed-distance) challenges, the brutal Arctic weather, and the sheer length of…

Long hours on ice-covered roads coupled with continual concentration seeped deeply into our bodies. After nearly 30 tanks of diesel and 10 days of white wonderlands, we neared the end of our Arctic journey, completing the 2020 Alcan 5000 Rally. What started as a pipe dream to pilot an old, right-hand-drive diesel deep into the Arctic turned into stark reality….

My wife, fellow writer Mercedes Lilienthal, and I decided to run the TransAmerica Trail (TAT) in June of 2025. The TAT spans from Nags Head, North Carolina, to Port Orford, Oregon, and employs as much dirt as possible. We considered a host of vehicles for the trip. The route was originally intended for adventure touring motorcycles, and many 4WD trucks…

Overland News: Rev’It Launches Lamina GTX Ladies Gore-Tex Outfit In response to female adventure riders’ desire for a more sophisticated and refined riding outfit, Rev’It put together a team of nearly all women to design the Lamina GTX. By developing both the jacket and pants in 3D—directly on a bust instead of the conventional two dimensions—Rev’It focused on riding comfort…

Recently, my husband, Andy Lilienthal, and I rallied a 1991 Mitsubishi diesel-powered Pajero in the Alcan 5000 Rally. Not only did we pilot this right-hand-drive Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) 4×4 over 5,120 miles of ice, snow, and blizzard conditions, we had to ensure it started every morning after it slept in Arctic temps of -40° and beyond.  Although block heaters…

From grocery getter to race whip.

Overland Journal Podcast host Ashley Giordano is joined by Canadian race car driver, X Games athlete, stuntman, and Baja 1000 champion Andrew Comrie-Picard in this episode, which touches on his childhood in Alberta, Canada, and how his love for driving challenges launched his automotive career. The conversation continues with an in-depth look at Comrie-Picard’s latest project, the Transglobal Car Expedition,…

Overland Journal Podcast Episode 199 Andy and Mercedes Lilienthal are the dynamic, bespectacled duo behind Crankshaft Culture, one of the most creative automotive and adventure travel media outlets going. Globetrotters, award-winning journalists, denizens of road rallies around the world, and connoisseurs of JDM trucks (particularly Mitsubishis), Mercedes and Andy have an undeniable enthusiasm for the four-wheeled life in all its…

Retro, compact 4WD Toyota campers are as desirable today as Sophia Loren was back in 1956—the curves, attitude, bone structure, and heritage are what drive us wild about this legend of yesteryear. The old Toyotas aren’t too shabby either, while some are cooler than others. The Sunrader “micro-mini motorhome” was manufactured by the Gardner-Pacific Corporation and featured a fiberglass-shell construction….