The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will honor the brilliance of American race car designer and builder Harry Miller on March 10, 2013. The 18th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Miller’s first win in the Indianapolis 500. Harry Miller’s brilliant and jewel-like “122” racing car won the first of eleven victories by Miller cars and engines in America’s greatest race. “When people talk about Harry Miller’s work, the word genius always surfaces,” said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. “After seeing his work up close it’s easy to understand why.” […]
The Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will honor the brilliance of American race car designer and builder Harry Miller on March 10, 2013.
The 18th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Miller’s first win in the Indianapolis 500. Harry Miller’s brilliant and jewel-like “122” racing car won the first of eleven victories by Miller cars and engines in America’s greatest race.
“When people talk about Harry Miller’s work, the word genius always surfaces,” said Bill Warner, founder and Chairman of the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance. “After seeing his work up close it’s easy to understand why.”
Harry Miller’s attention to even the minutest detail was stunning. He was obsessive about quality. Even the smallest components of his cars, engines and carburetors were finished to jewelers’ standards, even when no one, not even the customer, would see the finished products of his dedication to excellence and mechanical perfection.
“We’re honored to have Dana Mecum, the President of The Friends of Harry Miller, as a part of our Miller celebration for 2013,” said Warner, “They organize the spectacular Millers at Milwaukee meet on the Milwaukee Mile every July. He’s bringing the only Miller V-16. His guidance and enthusiasm have been invaluable.”
Warner expects at least a dozen rare Miller racers at the 18th annual Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, including one of only five “two-man” V-8 Miller-Fords designed and constructed for Ford Motor Company’s assault on the Indy 500 in the mid-1930s.
Miller’s designs endured, outliving their creator. After bankruptcy during the Depression Miller’s shop foreman Fred Offenhauser purchased the business and continued to develop Miller’s engine under the Offenhauser name perpetuating Miller’s Indianapolis legacy. The Miller-derived four cylinder Offenhauser “Offy” engine went on to win 25 Indianapolis 500 mile races and remained competitive a century after Harry Miller’s birth.
The 2013 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance will be held March 8 -10th on the 10th and 18th fairways of The Golf Club of Amelia Island at Summer Beach adjacent to The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island. The show’s Foundation has donated nearly $1.8 million to Community Hospice of Northeast Florida, Inc. and other charities on Florida’s First Coast since its inception in 1996.
Image courtesy of the Collection of Dan Davis.
