Size: 18.5" x 9" x 5.5"
Weight: 12 lbs
Finished: 08/10/97
Hours: 650

Price: $20,000

Among many topics, the book also chronicles his rescuing this car, rebuilding it and donating it to the Smithsonian Institute. I got some of these drawings from the Archive at Briggs Cunningham Museum, others from Mark Dee's book on The Miller Dynasty.

The Packard Cable Special set a world record at 124.7 mph, then went to 148.17 mph a year later around 1928. This car is a Miller 91 made for Leon Duray. Duray took the car to Europe to compete in the Monza Grand Prix. The car then found its way to Ettore Bugatti. Some time later Borgelson bought the car and in 1959 brought it back to the States. The car was shown at the New York Automotive Show and the Los Angeles County Museum. I saw this car at the Smithsonian a decade ago. At 64 I no longer worry about the year, as long as I know which decade it is (or at least think it is).

I love this car and my model of it. Miller, Offenhauser and Gooden all in his Los Angeles shop. How incredible.

My model doesn't try to capture all the detail completely. It's one-eighth scale. The idea was to capture the overall design and feel of the car.

The frame is 1/4" aluminum. So are the springs. The nose is copper sheet hammered over a buck. The hood is thin aluminum with louvers punched in. The cowl was formed by fiber glassing over a wood shape then removing the wood. The tail is wood with a fiberglass overlay.

The front drive was pure fabrication from photographs because I didn't have a drawing. The rear axel is brass parts soldered together.

I try to make a basic drawing on my computer because then you can make any amount of additional drawing you need, for revisions or adjacent parts. It's a great tool for making models.

The dash is 1/32 aluminum with a jeweler turning surface. The gages have a reversed copy for the face, with a clear vinyl cover and held together with a machined brass ring. The steering wheel is made by clamping two halves on to 1/32 aluminum and mill away whats not needed. Or you can turn it on the lathe - one of the tools that will help, if you can get a turntable or a dividing head.

Also, you don't have to use that stuff - just layout what you want and go at it with what you have. I only had a drill press and some hand tools when I started. All you need is to start.

– Will Neely, October 2008