The McMillen Special

Last week, I got an email from James Wood who is volunteering for a museum and looking for more information on a Model-A race car they have recently picked up. It’s a ’30 model that was raced at Automobile Club of America events (mostly on the east coast) in the 1930’s by its owner – Albert McMillen.

Does that name ring a bell? It might… See Albert was actually a very well known architect from New York City. Sometime around 1937, he bought the model-a from Frank Griswold and began prepping the car to campaign it. Once done, the car attended many events in North America and even a few overseas – including the Shelsley Hill Climb in 1937.

In 1939, Albert then sold the special to Paul Phillips – a member of Briggs Cunningham’s race team. But the trail sort of ends there… They haven’t been able to find any record of Paul running the car and it doesn’t really show up again until decades later in California.

So, we have a caper of sorts… A mystery if you will… And I’m left here wondering if any of you guys know this little special. If you’ve seen it or know anything at all about its history, we’d love to read it in the comments.