Tag Archives: Miller

Ak’s Iron Horse – Caballo de Hiero

When Zeke and Larry Miller needed someone to keep the four-banger Chevy roadster they had just built from running into the back of their daily driver as they towed it on the end of a chain up to Muroc Dry Lake they nominated their younger kid brother Akton, born in 1920, to take the drivers seat and act as brake man for the 100 mile journey to the frozen lake.

When the three Danish born brothers got their Ak was surprised to be offered the drive and set a 94mph time as a career in speed got kicked started that would see Ak become a founding member of the Road Runners car club in 1937, from which he was later ejected for refusing to bow to the flathead Ford Hot Rodders dogma by building and running a straight eight Buick in his Chevy, President of the Southern California Timing Association, SCTA, and one of the founding officers of the National Hot Rod Association, NHRA, in 1951.

Caballo de Hiero, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

While transforming countless Southern California ragamuffins enthusiasm into a recognized sport of which he became the acceptable face in a blazer and tie, he built and ran a variety of vehicles to compete on the lakes, 1/4 mile, road racing and Pikes Peak.

Today’s featured Caballo de Hiero was built using an Oldsmobile V8 in a Ford frame to compete in the Carrera Panamericana in 1953, Ak drove the car with Doug Harrison in the passenger seat and came home a respectable 14th overall and 8th in class that included sophisticated Ferrari’s and Talbot Lago’s .

Caballo de Hiero, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

The following year the hot rodding duo came in an even better seventh overall and 5th in class, they had hoped to return in 1955 but the race was cancelled in the wake of the disaster at Le Mans.

Ak and Doug had a crack at the Mille Miglia in 1957 with an all new El Caballo II but retired and Ak then moved onto competing at Pikes Peak, with a Chevy powered chassis of his own design with a Devin body, where he won his class on his debut which would be the first of eight class victories over 20 years.

On his 71st birthday Ak joined the 200 mph club at Bonneville, a speed event he helped found in 1949, driving a 225mph Crosley coupé built by his long time business partner Jack Lufkin and Ron Benham that was owned by Earl Wooden.

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton who kindly asked Karl Krause to take these photo’s at Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion held at Laguna Seca a couple of month’s ago.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ak’s Iron Horse” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow for Ferrari Friday. Don’t forget to come back now !

Unique Factory Rear Seats – Ferrari 500 Superfast #6659SF

Today’s featured 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast chassis s/n 6659SF was invoiced to Maranello Concessionaires, GB on the 21st September 1965.

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival of Speed

It was the 22nd of the 25 Series I Superfasts built and finished in the Argento exterior and Rosso interior colours still worn by the car today.

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival of Speed

#6659SF appears to have been the very first Superfast to have been fitted with a five speed gearbox as were all 12 Series 2 Superfasts.

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Uniquely amongst all 37 Superfasts this was the only one supplied with factory fitted rear seats, it was also supplied with the factory fit air conditioning option

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Peachy Property Corp. tycoon, Fulham Football Club director and later treasurer of Socialist International Sir Eric Merton Miller bought #6659SF on the 9th of February 1966.

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival of Speed

Even as he was being Knighted in 1976 rumours of financial impropriety at the Peachey Property Corp. were circulating and after being issued with four writs for the restitution of funds Sir Miller shot himself on the Jewish Day of Attonement 22nd of September 1977.

Since then #6659SF has had a succession of Australian and British owners and is seen in these photographs at Goodwood Festival of Speed where it was entered by John Collins of the classic Ferrari Specialists Talacrest.

Thanks for joining me on this “Unique Factory Rear Seats” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at the very first Chevron built by Derek Bennett. Don’t forget to come back now.

Americana – Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

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Last month Geoffrey Horton kindly asked Karl Krause to take some photo’s of the Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion festivities at Laguna Seca, I’ll be running a couple of blogs featuring a selection of the vehicles that were present starting with five American vehicles and one from Canada today.

Ford Model T Speedster, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

First up is a the #81 1922 Ford Model T Speedster known as the Hudkins MoTor Special in deference to Bruce Hudkins who built the immaculate boat tail body.

Caballo de Hiero, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion

Fast forward 31 years to 1953 when a pioneering Hot Rodder Akton Miller took it upon himself to build the #11 “Caballo de Hiero”, Iron Horse, above using a Ford Chassis and an Oldsmobile motor to take on the might of Europe from Lancia, Ferrari, Talbot Lago and Jaguar in the 1953 Carrera Panamerica in which he and co driver Douglas Harrison finished a respectable 14th overall, the following year they returned and came home an even better 7th overall covering the 1921 mile route at an average speed of 94.1 miles per hour.

Bocar XP5, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion,

In the late 1950’s BOb CARnes set out to design and build the fastest and safest sports car in the world that would be both fully operable on ordinary roads and track, at a price within the reach of ordinary people. By 1959 he was on his 5th design the XP5 like the example owned by Wesley Abendroth above which I believe is chassis XP5043, that when powered by a 290 hp Corvette V8 was easily capable of 160 mph.

Dailu Mk2, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Even more obscure and rare than the Bocar XP5 is Greg Meyer’s Dailu Mk2 built by DAvId Greenblatt and LUigi Cassiani in Canada. After the pair turned constructors and successfully built the Chevrolet powered Dailu Mk1 to improve upon Davids 1960 Sadler Mk IV, they built the Dailu Mk2 with a coupé fiberglass body, Jaguar XKE rear suspension, and a 430hp Ford Traco engine. John Canon drove it to victory on it’s debut and owner Peter Lerch continued the cars winning ways even after electing to remove the roof.

Ford GT40 MkII, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Probably best known of today’s featured cars is the Ford GT40 MkII chassis P/1015 which Ken Miles and Lloyd Ruby drove to victory on it’s debut in the 1966 Daytona 24 Hours and was then driven by Ken and Denny Hulme to a second place finish in the Le Mans 24 Hours, subsequent starts in the same events in 1967 yielded no finishes.

Chevrolet Monza, Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion, Laguna Seca,

Fourteen years further down the line and Chris Cord Racing were entering the second of their DeKon Engineering built Chevrolet Monza’s for Jim Adams in the IMSA GTX series. Other drivers of chassis #1012, seen above now owned by Ken Epsman, in the 1980 – 81 time frame included team owner Chris Cord, Rick Koop and a chap, or these days I believe more correctly a chapess, called Bruce Jenner who is apparently a darling of the moment in the media .

My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for organising these photographs for me and to Karl Krause for their execution, more will follow next week.

Thanks for joining me on this “Americana” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a 1975 World Constructors Winning Ferrari. Don’t forget to come back now !

Ferrari Concours Highlights – Goodwood Festival Of Speed

There were enough Ferrari’s present on the lawn at Goodwood House during the Festival of House for another short run of Ferrari Friday blogs, here is a preview of what is to come in future weeks.

Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale Cabriolet, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

From 1952 above is a Ferrari 212 Inter Vignale cabriolet that was erroneously labelled as having belonged to British Actor David Niven and incorrectly labelled as a short wheel base 1952 Ferrari 212 Export with a Cabriolet body by Vignale.

Ferrari 212 Vignale Coupé, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

One year later Vignale built this Coupé on the longer Inter chassis #0267EU and displayed it at the Turin Auto Show before selling is to Jean-Louis Lafourcade in France.

Ferrari 250 GT Zagato, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Surprisingly Zagato only built bodies for six Ferrari’s during the 1950’s, I believe the 1957 250GT seen above was originally fitted with a Ellena Coupé body until 1989 when Zagato were commissioned to fit a the Double Bubble body seen above.

Ferrari 500 Superfast, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

The 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast chassis s/n 6659SF above was purchased by property tycoon Sir Eric Merton Miller in 1966, 11 years later he committed suicide after being served with four writs seeking restitution of funds he had allegedly misappropriated.

Ferrari 330GT Vignale Shooting Brake, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

When Desy the original owner of the 1965 Ferrari 330GT seen above sold the car back to Chinetti Motors in New York in 1967 Luigi’s son Coco and commercial artist Bob Peak came up with the idea for Vignale to fit the car with this unique Shooting Brake body, subsequently it was taken to the 50th Annual Turin Motor Show and currently belongs to Singer Jay Kay.

Ferrari P4/5 By Pininfarina, Goodwood Festival Of Speed

Finally James Glickenhaus’s unique Ferrari P4/5 by Pininfarina has already been featured on this blog, but seeing it in the flesh myself for the first time confirmed it was probably well worth every cent of the $4,000,000 (USD Four Million) it cost the lucky owner.

Thanks for joining me on this “Ferrari Concours Highlights” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at another Formula Junior racer. Don’t forget to come back now !

Americana Paddock Questions – Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

At the end of May Geoffrey Horton popped along to the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival and kindly sent a large number of photographs, including those selected today which have an American theme.

Kurtis 500S, Tom Claridge, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

Built in 1953 Tom Claridge’s Kurtis 500 S #022 was originally supplied with a de Soto motor, after an accident in 1954 the car was rebuilt with the current Chrylser Hemi # C53-8-I5990, this car has been seen at the Goodwood Revival meetings.

Chevrolet Corvette, Bruce Miller, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

I am not sure of the racing provenance of Bruce Millers Sunoco liveried 1963 Chevrolet Corvette, but I understand the chassis number is #30867S118408, if you know more please chip in below.

Mercury Cougar XR7, Ike Keeler, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

The racing provenance of cars raced in the 60’s is never easy, there are references pertaining to Ike Keeler’s #14 Mercury Cougar,chassis #7F91C597587, being the Bob Estes sponsored #79 driven by Mark Waco which do not tie up on the dates I have found elsewhere on the internet, a Burien Mercury sponsored #14 Cougar was driven at least twice in 1967/68 by Dave Tatom, again if you can clarify these anomalies please do not hesitate to chime in below.

Doug Schultz, Dodge Daytona, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

I beleive Doug Schultz’s #7 Hilton Charger is a 1969 Dodge Daytona driven by 1966 and 1973 NASCAR Camping World Series West Champion Jack McCoy who recorded 54 wins during his career from the late 1950’s to early 1990’s.

Ford Boss Mustang, Jim Hague, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival,

Ken Epsman’s #16 1970 Ford Mustang Boss 302 appears to be the car Bud Moore entered for Peter Gregg in the 1971 Trans Am series.

Pontiac Firebird, William E. (Chip) Connor, Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

After an accident during practice for a Trans Am race at Road America Jerry Titus lost his life in August 1970 after crashing his #8 Terry Godsall Racing Pontiac Firebird similar to the one belonging to William-E.-Chip-Connor above.

Chevrolet Camaro, John Hildebrand, Sonoma Historic

2011 Indy Rookie of the Year JR Hildebrand was inspired to start racing after watching his Dad John race the #56 Peerless Racing Chevrolet Camaro that I believe was raced by Craig Carter from late 1978 to 1979.

If you have any additional information on any of the vehicles above please do not hesitate to chip in below. My thanks to Geoffrey Horton for sharing today’s photographs.

Thanks for joining me on this “Americana Paddock Questions” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at five favorite Ferrari’s that have appeared at Silverstone Classic. Don’t forget to come back now !

GT1 Class Winner – Chevrolet Corvette C6.R #004

Gary Pratt and Jim Miller founded the New Hudson, Michigan based Pratt & Miller Engineering and Fabrication in 1989.

In 1999 their relationship with General Motors, which continues to this day, got off the ground with the development of the Corvette C5.R.

The success of the C5.R program led to the commencement of C6.R GT1 program which took to the endurance circuits in 2005 with 8 GT1 Corvette chassis being built between up until 2008.

Corvette C6R, Clairay, Jousse, Goueslard, Siverstone 1000km,

Today’s featured chassis #C6R-004 was built new for the 2006 ALMS season and was driven to three straight class victories at Sebring, Huston and Mid Ohio by Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta who were joined by Jan Magnussen for the longer 12 hour victory at Sebring.

The Sebring class winning trio then drove the car to a fourth class victory at Le Mans the same year after finishing 4th overall from 22nd on the grid.

Luc Alphand Aventures acquired the car for the 2007 European Le Mans Series season and Luc joined by Jérôme Policand and Patrice Goueslard guided the car to another class win first time out in the Monza 1000kms.

Corvette C6R, Clairay, Jousse, Goueslard, Siverstone 1000km,

Later in 2008 Bruno Hernandez and Soheil Ayari drove chassis #C6R-004 and recorded a pair of heat wins in French FFSA GT Championship events run at Albi and Magny Cours.

In 2009 Luc, Jérôme and Patrice drove the car to a class victory at Spa a month before Luc sustained injuries in an all terrain motorcycle event that forced him to retire from competition driving and riding.

Luc was replaced by Julien Jousse at Algarve where #C6R-004 recorded it’s final class victory in 2009.

Jérôme, Patrice and Julien shared the car at the 2009 Silverstone 1000kms, where today’s pictures were taken, to record a 22nd place finish from 23rd on the grid.

After taking part in a couple more FFSA and FIA GT events the car was retired from competition at the end of the season.

Shafer 8 – Rigling Buick

Like the Wonder Bread Special I looked at last year today’s featured chassis is credited as being the handy work of Herman Rigling who is said to have built no fewer than 8 of the 40 chassis that started the 1931 Indy 500.

Rigling Buick, Silverstone Classic,

Foremost of the 8 entries that Herman had a hand in building was the Buick powered #12 example driven Phil Schafer known as the Schafer 8 which started 23rd and finished 12th.

Rigling Buick, Heinz Bachmann, Silverstone Classic,

The following season Phil returned to Indy to drive the #33 Shafer 8 Rigling Buick from 26th on the grid through to an 11th place finish.

Rigling Buick, Silverstone Classic,

In 1933 Phil was absent from the Indy 500 grid having failed to qualify the #7 Abels Fink Auto Special in an officially sanctioned qualifying session, he did qualify on the morning of the race, but officials realised they had overstepped their jurisdiction by allowing the running of a qualifying session on race day morning !

However the #8 Abels Fink Auto Special, Phil’s Shafer 8 dating back to 1931 , was driven by H W Stubblefield from 10th on the grid to a fifth place finish.

Rigling Buick, Silverstone Classic,

Phil entered two Shafer 8’s for the 1934 Indy 500, it would appear his original Rigling Buick was entered as the #36 for Al Miller and his mechanician Pinky Donaldson while Phil and mechanician Earle Frost drove the #26 Shafer 8.

Rigling Buick, Silverstone Classic,

Al drove to a 6th place finish from 8th on the grid while Phil starting from an Indy 500 career high 6th on the grid recorded his only Indy 500 retirement with a broken cam shaft drive after completing 130 laps to be classified 16th in his last drive at the Brickyard.

Rigling Buick, Silverstone Classic,

Phil continued competing in the AAA championship until 1936 and continued to participate in the Pikes Peak Hillclimb until 1952.

Heinz Bachmann is seen at the wheel of a Rigling Buick above that is believed to be the Shafer 8 that Phil Shafer failed to qualify at Indy in 1933 but with which Paul won the AAA non Championship race at Elgin Illinois, as described at the end of the post by John Glenn Printz, and raced in his final Indy start in 1934.

My thanks to Vitesse2 and Michael Ferner at the Nostalgia Forum for their help with some of the details in today’s story, I highly recommend reading Michael’s retelling of the 1933 Indy 500 qualification saga part 1 of which appears linked here and part 2 linked here with the race report linked here.

Thanks for joining me on this “Shafer 8” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow when I’ll be looking at a DIY Backie. Don’t forget to come back now !