Joe Lencki next to his DOHC "Lenckite Six? Indy engine 1954 EDIT: from speedwrench it is Joe Lencki not Lenckite 1935 Miller Ford Indy engine
Actually Miller was more of a visionary and promoter that surrounded himself with the right people. They might be machinists, (Fred Offenhauser was shop foreman) draftsman Leo Goossen, and at various times financial backers to pull off his many projects. Harry did insist on fit and finish being top notch and that resulted in the fine appearance of their cars and engines. Offenhauser went on to own the business when Harry went bankrupt and Goossen and the shop crew continued on with Fred ensuring what eventually became the Miller/Offenhauser/Meyer-Drake dynasty.
There were both 8 cylinder and 12 Liberty aircraft engines although the most common was the V12 designed for WWI. The V16 above I believe was a Duesenberg.
The Liberty engine design assignment went to Jesse G. Vincent of the Packard Motor Car Company and E. J. Hall of the Hall-Scott Motor Company. An engine design was needed as soon as possible and the two engineers came up with a solution in only five days. The War Department placed an order for 22,500 engines and the order was split up between Buick, Ford, Cadillac, Lincoln, Marmon and Packard in 1917. The engine was partially based on the design of the Mercedes DIII of 1913 which was a 6 cylinder in-line, but SOHC water cooled. Interestingly, Allison had a contract in 1917 also to convert a Liberty to air cooling and inverted operation. Twelve years later or so they started developing their V1710 water cooled engines prominently used in WWII.
FYI - the gentleman's name is Joe Lencki. Not sure what Lecknite is, but it may refer to a product he developed called ZMAX which something of a forerunner to STP.
It's funny I had the correct name with the photo and posted it but then saw the sign and thought I messed up his name and changed it to that. LOL
1931 Miller V16 Racing Engine Meyer & Drake made a new engine for the car that displaced 318 inches, had twin cams, and an estimated 300 horsepower. The engine was the largest Offenhauser engine ever built.
LB the picture above with the hood open is not a Miller but the 1917 Packard 905 cubic inch V-12 Liberty racecar (two man car). As soon as the armistice was signed in 1918 they went about making a single seater to take to Daytona (Ormond Beach) to set land speed records which they did. Here is a picture of the two man car at Sheepshead Bay board track in 1917. Packard had their own garage at the race track to test this car and other racing cars and modified cars they had in their stable. It was a 2 mile board track and I am sure was a hoot to drive a car on. Willard Rader is standing by the left rear tire and Jesse Vincent chief engineer is by his side. They called him "Big boy Rader". Willard was a test driver for Packard and a number of years ago I talked to his son who told me that he was a tire tester as well which in essence required he drove at speed until a tire blew and then keep it under control. Here is a picture of the 1919 record runs at Daytona with the new body.
Although I am one of those guys that is not a good passenger I have had a few rides in old racecars from that era. My wife always asks me if I would not do it anymore but sometimes it just happens. I agree that I would not want to take a ride or even drive the cars at that speed. Here is a picture of the owner/friend of another V-12 Packard racer driving and me in the black shirt when the car was finished. My friend loves to go way too fast all the time. We probably hit half that speed and it does get your attention. The cars are not all that stable and with the skinnier tires you seem to feel speed. I notice there is a smile on my face (my wife took the picture as we drove past her).
More of the NOT Miller but the 1917 Packard 905 cubic inch V-12 Liberty. but these sure look like V-16
One of my favorite pictures of the Packard 905 two man car was at Earl C Anthony's Southern California Packard dealership in either late 1917 or early 1918.
Looks like that is a Miller 303” V-16 built in 1930 for a bizarre Cord concept. Somehow Miller convinced Cord that a super expensive, exotic 16 might be a viable project during the Depression. I’m not positive but the engine Harry built for the Cord may have been reworked into the one seen in the second photo and run at Indy sometime later.
The engine is a Liberty V12 from the SOHC and exposed valve springs, and from the exhaust header. Note there are 8 rocker boxes on each side of the V configuration, four of them operate two valves each but the end two and the middle two operate only one valve each. There never was a V16 Liberty.
Those are both Miller 16s (post 983) The first photo is the Shorty Cantlon car. It was a very fast car but not sure if Shorty was up to the task at the 1931 Indy. He had a connecting rod put him out before he was half way. The second picture is the V16 that Dana Mecum bought and had some fun with at Miller meets. It had been owned and restored at Chuck Davis's shop out of Illinois. Very nice car. I have not researched all of the history with the car. Chuck Davis was a good guy who collected a bunch of great race car stuff back before it was uber expensive.
Here are photos of a 303 V16 and a Miller front wheel drive assembly with inboard brakes as installed in 1930 in an L29 Cord. If you compare the two photos it will show the versatility of the Miller/Goossen designs. The Cantlon Indy engine had cam gear drive towers at the front of the engine and they are in the Cord too, but keep in mind that the Cord engine is reversed for the front wheel drive. For Cantlon's Indy effort the accessory drive for the twin distributors and water pump are at the front of the engine while the Cord mounted them at the rear of the block above the bell housing. Certainly there are some other differences , yet when installed in the 1931 Indy car the exhaust manifold castings designed for the Cord were used likely giving up some horsepower. So I have a question, did Shorty drive a car with the engine that was used in the Cord concept vehicle, modified for use in an Indy car or was his engine of new construction?
Fordors, as I understand the engines in the Cord and the Cantlon car were one and the same. Mark Dees in his Miller Dynasty book gives his take on the switch. They used an existing 230 inline 8 chassis and reworked the accessory crossdrive and the eccentric-rod camshaft drive was replaced with a more compact set of bevel gears. One has to keep in mind that this was during the depression and so there would not be a long line of buyers for a 16 cylinder hot rod (Cord) in essence and Miller's bank balance was on life support so it was not surprising to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Can not find my pic from Glenn Curtis museum in Haminsport NY of his early motorcycle engine. Looked for 5 minutes until realized one pushrods inside of another with “fingered” rocker arms. Anyone have a pic for us engine nuts?.?
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