Race to the Museum: Miller race car, 1929

This post is the fourth in a series of eight profiling automobiles in the museum’s collection. At the conclusion of the series on Tuesday, December 21, the public will be invited to vote for one favorite among the eight cars. The two automobiles with the most votes in the “Race to the Museum” contest will be displayed in the museum from January 22 to February 21, 2011.

Ever dream of being the only kid on the block with super powers? Harry Miller’s eight-cylinder, supercharged, front wheel drive race cars hit the tracks in the late 1920s, and the dozen demons were unlike anything the competition could offer. Light and fast, the aluminum-body Miller car in the collection of the National Museum of American History weighs 1,400 pounds and develops 230 horsepower. It was driven by Ralph Hepburn in the 1929 Indianapolis 500, and although he didn’t win, the same car later set speed records in Europe.

There were enough loopholes in American racing rules to permit such extravagant power, but that didn’t last long. “The Detroit car makers threatened to pull out of the Indy 500 because it was too expensive to compete with the hand-crafted ‘high tech’ of the exotic Harry Miller cars,” said National Museum of American History curator Bill Withuhn, who received the Miller car as a gift of Robert Rubin. “The track owner and Indy organizers changed the rules to outlaw superchargers and to change the size of engines permitted in Indy cars. End of Miller dominance; welcome back, Detroit sponsors.” Rubin’s gift includes a fund to keep the Miller race car in running order.

Roger White is Associate Curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the National Museum of American History.

 

Comments

[Rod Dahlgren]

The Miller cars are an absolute amazing representation of mechanical technology. Every Student Of Mechanical Engineering could learn from these cars.

All the current generation of Gear Head Car Guys really need to see and HEAR these cars run. The Miller engine and how it was part of the Offenhauser engines that dominated the Indianapolis 500 history clear up into the 1970’s makes this the most significant part of the American Automobile.

My only hope is that the Smithsonian find and train those that handle and care for these cars so that they may continue to run and take to the race track for generations to come.

These cars need to be more than static display. There is no other way to explain the sound of a Miller or Offy as it passes the main grand stand at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Gentleman, Start Your Engines

[Peter]

Dennis - the engine was an 8 cylinder supercharged unit and Miller's engines were known for having high horsepower:

http://www.milleroffy.com/Racing%20History.htm

FYI: The 8 cylinder Lycoming engine in the 1929 Duesenberg Model J developed 265hp in stock form and 320hp in supercharged (model SJ) form.

[Jim]

It developed Horse Power via the supercharger and engine. The article mentions that Indy banned the supercharger and reduced engine size.

[Dennis Dater]

Do you have any details on how it developed this much horsepower in a 1929 car?

[Dave Henry]

This car is one of the 2 "Packard Cable Specials" discovered under a false floor in the bombed out Bugatti factory in France by American writer Griff Borgeson and documented in his outstanding book "The Golden Age of the American Racing Car". One car was rear wheel drive with the other being front wheel drive.
I had the extreme pleasure of a close-up examination of the front wheel drive car car in the workshop of the Briggs Cunningham Automotive Museum in Costa Mesa, California in the early-mid '70s. The story then was that Ralph Hepburn ran the rear wheel drive car while the front wheel drive one was the speed record holder, in the hands of Leon Duray.
This car appears, to me, (from this one photo) to be the front wheel drive car.
I would be most interested to hear further input from others in the know, especially Roger White, as to which car this is and further commentary on my historical belief (or, perhaps, failing memory...) regarding the 2 cars and drivers.
Nonetheless, the one I saw was a piece of awe-inspiring art and superb craftsmanship which, while in it' presence, made me feel like an elderly nun, on her first visit to the Vatican!!!

[Samantha]

Hi, loving the series, can't wait to vote.
Great stuff!

[Val Garner]

What a beauty of a car, who knew it could go so fast as well?