man,,i was flipping through my latest hotrod magazine issue from august 1950 and thought i'd share this,,the centerfold for that month(my apologie if its been shared before) awesome car that famed indy car eddie miller SR. built with his son and built very uniqley to race on Bonnieville with a pontiac flat 6,,wish i had the paitience to replicate the entire artical by typing...he made the cover that month beautiful car!
That is a very cool car. It's in the process of being restored by a capable crew. I'm glad some people had the foresight to save unique/historic cars.
It's never really been "lost", either. Although it was never particularly successful as a record car, people have admired its design for a long time. Terry Baldwin and Mark Dees both owned it for years -- didn't do anything toward restoring it, but kept it safe. I don't think any self respecting car guy could throw away all those cool louvers and wire wheels!
Always thought that was one of the prettiest racers of all time. Glad to hear it's still around - I didn't know that...
that is cool. i wish i had the patience to replicate the entire car! how long is the article? if you scanned it and sent it to me, i could type it up. trey
I'm always glad to see the history posts, gives me a chance to share all the info I've collected over the years. I just wish people would ask more questions. I've always liked the looks of the Eddy Miller Lakester, glad it is getting a restoration.
Correct me if I am wrong but didnt the car sit for a while after it was done? Sr, was afraid his kid would get hurt and refused to let him run?
From August 1950 of Hot Rod Magazine, "Back in 1947, when the fast cars at the dry lakes were striving to reach the 140 mph speed mark, Eddie MIller Jr. of Culver City, California, set out to prove two points; that Pontiac six engines could be developed into capable competition material, and that when placed in an efficient chassis, the Pontiac could be made to "go." Now, three years later, Eddie's ideas are about to be proven. The only drawback is, as he points out, that things have progressed so far during, the time he as been building his car that already he feels "out of date, out moded, and obsolete." Nevertheless, The MIller car, which he and his dad, Eddie Sr., former Indianapolis driver, have been building, appears far from being obsolete in the ideas it displays, the countless hours of painstaking precision work that have gone into the car are evident through every inch of its structure. Not only have they engineered, designed, and carefully built each part, but they also made their own patterns for the special castings and have manufactured each special part in duplicate, tooling up as they go along. Within the next couple of weeks, Eddie hopes to have the car ready for initial running tests. With intentions of taking the car to Bonneville this year, the Millers also have hopes of one day entering it into competition in the Pikes Peak run, since it has been built to the specifications of the AAA. For all around originality in design and construction, you'll find the Miller Pontiac hard to beat." Pictures, top to bottom. Frame strurcutre is fabricated of 2" diameter .035 Cortan steel tubing. Wheelbase measures 105", with 60" tread in the front and 54" tread in the rear. Wheels are 1929 Hupmobile, 6-cyl. type in on the front and 8-cyl. type on the rear. The wheels were Magnafluxed and straightened for safety. Body, which can easily be removed in sections, is made of sheet aluminum. Can't make out what is says about the rear of the car. Four carburetors are Zenith side draft removable-venturi type. Headers and pipes were made from sheet stock by Mr. Miller. The flywheel is aluminum alloy. '29-A transmission provides second and direct gears. Final gear selector has chain drive with 3-link rollers and quick-change sprockets. Rear axle gear ratio is 2.92:1 Hinged canopy lifts for access to control mechanisms and the fuel tank. Water tank sets in rear, above engine, which is mounted at an 18-degree angle. Engine is a '49 Pontiac 6 fully converted. Has 2" intakes, 1 1/2" exhausts. Millers made own head, pistons, and special twin 3-cylinder ignitions. 3 5/8 x 4" engine will run 7.5:1 compression. Has Pontiac rods, Grant rings. Other than that...engine is 248 ci, radiator is a Beechcraft airplane oil cooler. sounds like a friggin blast! trey
I recently shot some photos of the car, I'll dig 'em out and post a couple. It's currently sitting at Custom Auto in Loveland Colorado. Bare metal at the moment and a sight to behold. There is a work station in the shop dedicated to the project, dozens of photos and clippings to document all the details correctly. The lakester is getting the royal treatment for sure and very deserving indeed. For those who saw the 404 Berardini Roadster at he GNRS, that was the latest Custom Auto restoration, too cool. I really enjoyed seeing that one progress from start to finish.........JW
Frame strurcutre is fabricated of 2" diameter .035 Cortan steel tubing. I like the history posts, too. Does anyone know what "Cortan" steel tubing is? I've never heard that term. It sounds like a brand name, must be strong as hell to only use .035 wall for the frame.
Thanks to all who've contributed to this thread. I'm always interested in anything that shows where we've come from in all areas of automotive high performance. Some of these early efforts were simply beautiful, real works of art. If you've even had a passing interest in Top Fuel you'll notice how the creations of Kent Fuller were so much more pleasing to the eye than those that have followed. It's kind of sad but our relentless persuit of results have left form sitting on the sideline in some cases. Frank
Thanks for posting those recent photos. Does anyone happen to have any photos of the place where it was stored for years, the place where the So-Cal tank came out of? Talk about pictures being worth a thousand words...
man,,the most bitchin part of history is the cool things you find out...that you dont really realize untill you put it all together... i wanted to post the cover of the HR mag with the eddie miller jr. lakester,,but my scanner messed up,,so sorry... ,,but tonight i was reading my "the RODDERS JOURNAL" 's and flipped to the Stu Hilborn story,.,which ive read before,but now after flipping through HR 1950 story about eddie miller jr.,the story meant so much more than it already had... man this is so cool,,aparently Eddie Miller Jr. lived a block over from Stu and introduced him to Eddies dad,,Stu went to work for him and learned everything he could and went on to create HILBORN injection ,, not only that,,but eddie miller jr. re-built the body on Stu's streamliner while Stu was in the hospital recovering from the horreiffic 1947 wreck...rebuilding it to where noone could tell it was ever damaged and displayed at the first ever 1948 "SEMA" type show,,,amazing .... thats my cliff notes version of it,,pick up an old copy to read more(issue 24) ,,amazed,,,i LOVE RODDERS JOURNAL...fuck the rest of the magazines!
guess thats what they mean by "small world." seems like a lot of the more famous guys were connected one way or another. a lot of them, i wish i was old enough to sit down and pick their brains for 15 minutes. stuff like this really gets me excited for bonneville this year. i am a big fan of TRJ. i appreciate all of the effort you guys put forth to make a killer magazine. i only wish it came out more, but that would only sacrifice quality. so i like it how it is! trey
Not trying to steal this post. Has the American Hot Rod Foundation, www.ahrf.com been discussed here before? Jim Miller, Eddie Miller Jr.'s son, is the foundation's historian and researcher. Jim is building a lakester that is unbelievable. He must have inheritated a lot of talent from his father and grandfather. Jim can be found at all SCTA meets in the inspection area. In addition to all that he is a great help on the lakester we work on. His talents can be also be found on the Flatfire(Ecofire) streamliner.
...any little glimpses I have seen have been unreal. Cars stacked up in racks to the ceiling. There's a post somewhere on here about someone's visit to the place once.
The Jalopy Journal
