Event Coverage Millers at Milwaukee turns 25

Here is a sampling of what was on exhibit today, the show runs tomorrow also. If you are into historic race cars and can make it this is the event for you. That's Johnny Rutherford standing by the Miller Special that Louie Meyer drove to a win in 1928, his first of three.

 

Automotive Art!

 

Millers, Offenhausers and more were at the track. Bob McConnell had his '55 Kurtis 500-D Belanger Special that was driven by Tony Bettenhausen and also the 1933 Miller Red Lion Special out for some fun. IIRC the Red Lion car was at a very early NSRA SR Nats with McConnell driving it around the fairgrounds.

The 1928 Louie Meyer car again. Powered by a Ford 4 Banger with a Miller Hi-Speed head. Pure beauty in it's simplicity! A Miller 16 under the hood.
Art Sparks Big Six engine is in the Joel Thorne car. Thorne was a rich ******* that blew through a fortune.

 

How about some detail shots?

One of the 1935 Indy Fords that Harry Miller and Preston Tucker promoted to Henry Ford. The cast aluminum cover hides a lot of the front wheel drive hardware, but take notice of the cable operated brakes- no doubt Henry was a fan. Did they influence his cable brakes on the '37 Fords?
Experimental Strombergs on the Miller Ford, the general shape is unmistakable but they are single throttle bore with a square four bolt base like a Winfield.

The magneto is in the ****pit on the Miller Ford, the advance was fixed, no adv/ret available. Some Miller engines could be adjusted by the riding mechanic while in the race.
Front end of one of the Elgin Road Race '33 Ford Roadsters, all these years later it is still the gold standard for hot rod suspensions. Kurtis Indy car with an unusual front suspension. Anybody know the story? Here's the car with the suspension shown above.

 

Power !
1935 Miller Ford
Miller head, B block
Pretty sure this was an early Miller four, pre-Offenhauser
Miller 16

The Sparks Big Six

There were plenty of sweet sounding engines, but this Miller eight running around the track had me wishing I had a video camera so I could have captured the audio.
One of the original Novi V8's as built by Bud Winfield, Leo Goossen and Fred Offenhauser, single plug, pre-Granatelli.

Blower on the Novi, carburetion on the other side of the firewall, in the ****pit.

 

Random stuff-
This is a rebodied 1935 Miller/Ford that has the above Novi engine, it ran the 1941 race.

Vinyl? Hell no. Hand lettering and gold leaf can't be beat.


I should have paid more attention to this car, the small blower had ribs like on a S.CO.T., but hey, I see a Delco alternator and a horn! Street driven, I imagine.
A pair of 1933 Fords, they raced on public roads at Elgin, IL a**** other cities around the country.
The 27 car had the Miller Sixteen under the hood


Miller was a stickler for fit and finish as seen here. He had a few quirks too, like hollow cast brake and shift knobs but that sounds counter-intuitive to me when you look at the m*** of his suspension designs.
Blue Crown Spark Plug Special ****pit details, nice heel rest for that 500 mile marathon.
Johnny Rutherford, Guest of Honor at the event and I believe the other gentleman is the owner of the '35 Miller/Ford

 

Last but certainly not least.
A Harry Hosterman HAL

Unidentified, at least by me.

The HAL again.





A later iteration of the Novi, after the Granatelli refinements, most obvious are the larger (?) supercharger and twin ignition. Ed Pink Racing Engines was an event sponsor.

 

A form of what is called a Du bonnet suspension, sort of a tube axle meets VW front beam suspension, for the lack of a better description.

 

Seen in the parking lot-

Someone mentioned this was a Jerry Kilberg car, I'm sure I saw his cars before at the Street Rod Nats. The man has an eye for style and taste.

A different take on headlight conduits.

The personalized plate is cool but I like that bronze plate topper even better.
It's all in the details. I thought I had a photo of the dropped beam but I don't, it was smoothed out and painted a ****erscotch brown and complimented the green body perfectly.
Henry body and old school looks, what could be better?

Last photo, it was a good day. If I could get away I'd go back tomorrow, great cars, talked to some cool people and the weather was perfect.

 

That's a way kool event. I've wanted to go for sometime. Maybe next year.

 

I was there.. Rode there in the green ‘32 Phaeton with Jerry K.
This is a must do event for anyone who appreciates old (real) Indy cars. I am fortunate to live about 30 minutes from this track which is the oldest 1 mile oval in the country.

 

Thanks a lot for those photos and narrative.Enjoyed.

 

Neat photos. I'm out of town, so I missed the event this year.

Phil

 

THANK YOU! This is a Bucket List event of mine, I'll get there some year. All I have for a MILLER is a bill of sale from 1926 for a 122, and the receipts for racing the car for one year. Was that HAL engine sitting on the ground a full size or Midget engine? Thanks again! Bob

 

I Love the style and innovation of the early eras of racing and definitely appreciate the people with foresight to save these great pieces for all to see and experience. Thanks for all the photos and info, Carp.

 

I've only made that show once, many moons ago. Wonderful stuff. Thanx for the pix. I sure hope I get to go to it again, or to another similar event.

 

Thanks for the pictures, especially the details which we rarely get to see and are the most interesting ones in my opinion.

 

Here's the beautifully smoothed and painted axle on the Kilberg Phaeton that I mentioned in 2019, I took a photo this year.

 

I am sure Jerry would appreciate your compliments. I rode with him again to the Miller event this past Saturday, last weekend he followed me in my Comet and two others to the GoodGuys event in DesMoines. The front bumper on the Deuce clears the ground by just over 3”, its Low.....

 

Thank you for the great photos. Being a sign painter and pin striper, I greatly appreciate seeing traditional hand lettering. The engine turned gold leaf on the Gilmore Special is simply stunning. I have never restored a car myself but over the years I have lettered and or striped numerous projects.
It is a real let down to see a car completely restored down to OEM nuts and bolts, then to blow the last step with a vinyl material that was not invented or used at time the vehicle was manufactured.

 

Beautiful photographs, thanks for the coverage.

 

Great pics, thanks for posting for us that couldn't make it!

 

Sorry if I created any confusion, I added a new photo to this two year old thread. Check out the Miller Reunion thread started by @pprather

 

Here is the 2021 event:
https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/miller-reunion-at-the-milwaukee-mile.1234691/