1926 Miller Locomobile Junior 8 Special
1926 Miller Locomobile Junior 8 Special
The 1920s marked the peak of Miller car and engine domination of national championship automobile racing. Cliff Durant, son of General Motors founder William Crapo Durant, commissioned two “Locomobile Junior 8 Specials” based on the Miller ‘91’ racecar to publicize the acquisition of the Locomobile luxury car brand by the elder Durant’s company. Nine ‘91’ rear-drive cars were series built, with the two Locomobiles differing in numerous visual and mechanical details. Miller cars were carefully handcrafted with aesthetics playing as important a part as engineering. Some 6000 man-hours went into each car
- YEAR & MAKE - 1926 Miller
- MODEL NAME - Locomobile Junior 8 Special
- MODEL/BODY/STYLE NUMBER - 155
- BODY TYPE - Racecar
- BODY BY - Miller
- # CYLS. - Supercharged DOHC Inline-8
- TRANSMISSION TYPE & NUMBER - 3-Speed Manual, Rear-Wheel Drive
- WEIGHT - 1,400 lbs
- ESTIMATED PRODUCTION - 2
- HP - 155
- C.I.D. - 90
- WHEELBASE - 100″
- PRICE NEW - $10,000
This car first raced at the 1926 Indianapolis 500 with Cliff Durant at the wheel and would make three more Indy 500 appearances in the subsequent years. A number of notable drivers would take the wheel during a racing history that would last until 1955 – longest of any Miller car. Three of those drivers would go on to be Indy 500 winners, including Chicagoan Billy Arnold who drove the car to its best Indy finish at 7th. While some parts were lost to time, modifications and hard use, it was meticulously rebuilt on the original chassis using Miller’s drawings. It wears the #9 livery of its Indy debut.