The early 30's racing scene featured a head-to-head brawl between front-drive and rear-drive race cars. It was a natural move for Harry Miller to combine the philosophies and create one of the world's first four-wheel-drive race cars. Many think th... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Great timing as always Ryan. From the side it kind of looks like Posies newest creation in roadster form.
So... is this one of those... to be continued posts? Or do we really not know where this one ended up (thinking scrap heap due to the referenced mechanical difficulties?)
love those Millers. still have'nt brought myself to dirty up the pages of my pristine copy of The Miller Dynasty by reading it but i have several other Miller books that i get a thrill from every time i crack their covers. the man was a mechanical GENIUS and an artist with machinery!
You know where Miller came from? I have seen the place where he grew up and Im still hoping to find some really cool "prototypes" in this area!
I've read that both passenger cars (the somewhat complete and the incomplete) were later converted back into race cars. In fact, one of them was involved in an Indy accident that killed it's driver. Afterwards, the motor was salvaged, placed in another car, and was involved in another lethal accident a year later. That motor is now in a museum in Wisconsin (I think?) and is called the "Death Motor" or something like that... Sorry, away from my research at the moment or I would answer more certainly.
A good example of why this car failed... Remember, it was built to run with the Duesenberg. This was a Super Car. It would be like going out and buying the latest v12 Ferrari right now... Anyway, they were running low on money and time and needed to get brakes on the car. In a tight spot, they put on a set of mechanical brakes that were used on Miller race cars for years. They worked ok, but... Imagine being the guy that spent $30k on this car in 1933. That was a lot of money back then and in return, you would expect the best of the best... Hydraulics were known to be better, Harry had used them in the past, etc... Word has it, the owner of the car was disgusted with it. After spending $30k with Harry, he sold the car a short while later for $400. This passenger car was really a dark moment in the history of Miller... And it makes all that black paint all the more appropriate.
the subaru of its day, only with poor braking... failure or not, that engine, and car look awesome! who doesnt loves a W-16?
Have a video of Myron Stevens giving a demonstration of his metal working skills. Don't know if he worked on this one or not, still, it's amazing to me the group of craftsman Miller was able to put together on a consistant basis, good times or bad, and it's another aspect of his abilities. Don't remember seeing this one, its my new favorite.
I've loved that car ever since I saw it in the Miller books. Would love to see more pics of it! Clark
I saw one of the Miller FWD Indy cars run "flat stick" at the Speed on Tweed closed public street time trials a couple of years ago, magnificent!
By God, thats a piece of work! Never seen that before. I would imagine the cars problems were nothing that couldn´t have been sorted out with some development work and of course money. Miller clearly knew what he was doing, but if the funds aren´t there then its just not going to happen. Sure looks like a hot rod to me though.
Great Report Ryan. --------------------------- To all y'all: If this car interests you, read "The Last Great Miller" (Big book, short read, lots of pics) The first 1/3 of the book is on these cars. The Unhappy customer was known as "The Chancellor" (spl?) He bought it for his kid! He was a rich guy that wanted to give his 19 year old (I think) Kid "THE BEST SPORTS CAR MONEY COULD BUY" as a gift.. Well, all that Ryan said was true, and when the kid drove it, he wasn't impressed. Both the father and son were wealthy and had driven many "Super cars" of the day. The father took it for a spin and was not happy either. As for the where abouts of them, It is not fully known. Zakira's (Cincinnati shop that specializes in Millers) is about 90% sure there gone for the most part. The engines were pulled, but the Chancellor's car was seen a few years later parked on a curb with Different fenders and a Hopped up Flat head in it.. That was the last it was heard of.. It still may be out there.. Now, think about that as you try to sleep tonight! ---------- Oh... and RYAN!! When you come to Zakira's you will be able to hold in your hands the original pencil sketches and blueprints to these cars, drawn and signed by Miller and Goosen. as well as the original wooden bucks for the transfer casses , steering gears, front and rear end center sections... ect... J Shaw
Not sure if this car is related to the passenger cars, but a V16 Miller owned by Dana Mecum has been at the Miller Meets.
Just to add from "The Miller dynasty" Gerard Kirchhoff did the body for the Chancllor out of aluminum. The car was scraped in 1939 after several modifications by different owners. The Chancllor had a v8 double overhead cam engine & was front wheel drive. The second of the Miller road cars was the Burden which started out as a v16 four wheel drive . This car was a disaster. This car cost 20000 to build but was sold by the owner for400. Miller eventually got the remains of the car back & intended to make a race car out of it but never did. The engine eventually wound up in the race car that Shorty Cantlon Was killed in in the 47 indy500. The best part of all this is that so much of Harry Millers work is still preserved & much of it still running. waw
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