A. K. Miller Stutz hoard

[Guest Silverghost]

Does anyone else remember A. K. Miller and his infamous Stutz hoard?

My 91-year old dad tried to buy parts from him many years ago without any success.

He used to reply to dad with very long notes on scrap pieces of paper.

We do not believe he owned a telephone.

Did anyone else attend his infamous estate auction?

Who owns former A. K. Miller Stutz cars today?

What are your A K Miller memories and stories?

Are there any other hoarders around today like old A. K. Miller?

 

Brad Hunter

(215) 947-4676

[auburnseeker]

Unfortunately I was just getting into the hobby and old enough to buy a car when they auctioned off the estate. I would have loved to have been thre as I love the 1920's-early 1930's classics.

I've been to a bunch of hobbiest's places here in upstate NY and there are lots of hoarders still out there. I buy NOS parts and usually get calls from collectors as opposed to dealers. They only sell me what doesn't fit there cars. I'm always buying Ford parts from the Chevy guys and vice versa. But I have seen some really rare and desirable cars. Usually muscle cars but in most cases the guys had several of them. Most were nice cars, not rusty projects.

The stuff is still out there. It's just hard to get them to part with stuff.

[alsancle]

Here is one of the cars that has been restored and resold a number of times.

[Rusty_OToole]

Wasn't that story covered in a book called The Cobra In The Barn? I'm pretty sure I read an account of the collection and sale someplace.

[alsancle]

The A.K.Miller auction was a true "Once in a Lifetime" event, the man had no friends, and NOBODY had a good thing to say about him. One gentleman I'd known for 40 plus years shocked everyone with a round of profanity we didn't know he was capable of thinking much less saying!I still have my auction catalog, a real top shelf item. I think it is safe to say the best Stutz in the collection is the one that was saved and restored by Randy Ema and is now owned by Jay Leno. I got to see it the last time I was in Burbank, it couldn't have a better home now.

To me, the best one is the supercharged 29 that I linked above (and pictured below). Second place would be the DV32 Roadster owned & restored in Texas. Which is the one that Randy restored?

[Guest Silverghost]

Say what you will about Old A K ~

I do give him credit for saving so many Sutz cars ~

In many cases with our old cars there is usually a strange and odd story as to how these few rare cars survive while others have not.

Many of the great Antique & Classic cars we know today were once rescued by folks like old A K Miller !

He may not have had the money to properly care, store, or restore the great cars~

But he did save them !

My Dad often said that A K MIller loved Stutz cars more than any other early collector !

My 1927 Rolls~Royce phantom has a similar & strange ownership story . Another odd "Barn Find"

It was saved several times from the scrap yard !

[Guest Silverghost]

Was there not a former A K MILLER un-restored Stutz DV in the hershey flea market about 6 years ago up for sale by the "Platinum Classics" guys ?

Is this the above cope' ?

[bruffsup]

Being a motorcycle literature collector I used to run want ads in the 1980's and A.K. Miller ( unknown to me at the time ) called me and said he had a rare Harry Geer catalogue but it was not for sale only trade and specifically for Stutz literature to which I replied "Do you have a Stutz" to which he answered , " No, I have 50 of them" Well of course my thoughts were , "here's yet another big American BS'er. Well, about a year later we were heading down to Putney Vermont for a Brough gathering and I decided to call this man's bluff "just in case" As we pulled up alongside the long red barn there was MRS Miller, , Imogene or "sister" as AK called her ( was there something going on here nobody talked about? Well poor old Imogene was mowing the foot long grass with a hand push mower in 80+ degrees heat.

Both of these folks were more than gracious to us . I was impressed by the way the cars were stored, compared with many other hoards I have seen AK did a good job.

I visited the Millers on 3 or 4 occasions and liked both of them very much. I bought a few motorcycle bits and bobs but he never was a bike man , but he did have his first bicycle. He did offer to sell me his very first Stutz for 20K, I can't remember the model but it was not a Bearcat of the blown Lancefield. I agree the blown car was for me the jewel of the pack. He told me the story of when he bought the car in England the seller thought all Stutzs were blown and thusly nothing special!

I still have the Harry Geer catalogue but came away from the auction with only somewhat sad memories as I really liked the Millers. I have some great video footage of our first meeting.

[Dave Mellor NJ]

So he did have a phone?

[bruffsup]

Yes he did!

From my old phone book

A.K."Dusty" Miller

East Orange

West Topsham, Vermont

05086

802-439-6146

[alsancle]

Was there not a former A K MILLER un-restored Stutz DV in the hershey flea market about 6 years ago up for sale by the "Platinum Classics" guys ?

Is this the above cope' ?

The car they were selling was a DV32 open quarter sedan. From memory I believe there were 2 DV32 cars at the sale, this one and the roadster I mentioned before. When Skip Barber owned the blown Lancefield, it was not too far away at a friends getting the supercharger tuned. It seems during the restoration they never really got it to work right. If you are interested, I have a whole web page dedicated to Stutz Superchargers. It includes a picture of the blower from the Lancefield car running on a dyno.

http://home.townisp.com/~alsancle/StutzSuperCharger.html

[K8096]

The black DV sedan at Hershey several years ago was an AK Miller car, but it was sold by Miller himself well before the 1996 auction. Ruger got 4 cars out of Miller sometime in the late 1980's/early 1990's in a package deal, and that black sedan was one of them. The only other car AK sold somewhat close to his death was the Tuxedo Cabriolet (a Rollston towncar) that was restored in the early 1990's and has not been seen in public since. AK passed in 1994.

The DV sedan at the 1996 auction was a different car from the black one at Hershey. The one at the auction was red, and has since been completely restored to it's original blue color and is currently listed for sale by Hyman on his website.

The supercharger on the coupe now works correctly.

AK was much more "open" with people from Canada and England than us Americans. He seemed to think us Americans were all going to turn him into the IRS or something.

I was in AK's house in 1973, but I wasn't born yet! My mom was 4 or 5 months pregnant with me at the time. Most people weren't allowed in the house, but because she was pregnant, AK & Immogene must have felt sorry for her and she got to sit at the kitchen table (which had a single lightbulb hanging over it by a wire for light in the room) while AK & my dad looked at car stuff.

Edited September 21, 2010 by K8096 (see edit history)

[alsancle]

Here are some scans of the cars in question. It has been a while since I've looked at the cataloge. There was really a lot of cool cars! Bob, I assume you are talking about the 6B Bearcat circa 1913?

[K8096]

You know, I've never been able to figure out what the light colored car was behind the Lancfield coupe in the old photo. 1925 - 1928 deCause styled Franklin?

[Guest KTS]

Hi All - just joined up, as I am in process of acquiring one of AK's cars - I DID ATTEND THE AUCTIONS! I bid on one of the last bearcats, actually the last, but was unsuccesfull - the guy that bought it wanted the top (!) for a pattern - cost him a pretty penny.

The car I getting after now was lot 28, listed as a 22, but is actually a 21 6-7 passenger. Now fully restored by the buyer, a good friend of mine, who has reached the age where he does not use the car. I always told him I'd buy it from him when the time is right, and now is that time.

Only problem is two of the cast guides for the pushrod mechanism are shattered, so I have to find new ones - anyone recasting these?

Anyway, the auction was great. I also went to the household items auction, and bought a trunk that had AK's heavy winter overalls and an oil cloth jacket, probably both were airforce issue. Still have them.

Also purchased by mes was all of the letters and car magazines, catalogs, photos - in other words, AK's library. Filled the back of my suburban. Fascinating stuff, most car club magazines are full of notes in the classifieds. Lots of letters on various stationary from AK to suppliers, etc, etc. Someone was going to sort through it all for a book he was doing, but never did, don't remember his name. I filled in all me old car mags with AKs, now have pretty complete runs of most club mags.

Anyway, its all preserved for now, and I hope to have the tourer out for 2011.

[Guest Silverghost]

Anyone know the chassis # of A K Miller's Rolls~Royce Springfield Roadster from the auction catalog?

If you do I can possibly tell you where it is today.

[alsancle]

I left the catalog at my office. I will look tomorrow and post it.

[Ivan Saxton]

Only problem is two of the cast guides for the pushrod mechanism are shattered, so I have to find new ones - anyone recasting these?

Those diecast cam follower bodies are just rubbish. If you have two defective you are wasting your time if you do not relace the lot. They have all grown with age, probably because of micro-contamination of the melt with cadmium or lead. My best engine , which I have had since the 1970's, would turn over freely; but now because the diecast cannot expand outwards it has grown inwards so the follower shafts have no clearance. Fred Edwards has cast new bodies in sg cast iron for ourselves here. I'll be seeing Fred tomorrow, and if you tell me directly that you want some, I will talk to him about getting more castings. I have set up ours ready to machine, and once I do these an extra set won't make much difference. There are people doing excellent castings, though he had a problem getting castings for the DH exhaust manifolds he has been doing for people out of the foundry.

I never met AK. The closest I got was when I was Morris Burrows guest on the Glidden based at Bretton Woods in 1980. I had previously vistited Ernie and Ruth Toth, and Ernie insisted I should meet him if possible. However Ernie phoned Morris with the message that AK was going to be absent at the time in New Jersey. He was "working the fallow"with some people: It was said he had lawns to mow, but I understand that he turned over by hand the engines of the Bearcat and 6 cylinder Mercer Raceabout of Mrs Brunz. (That Mercer only had 5000 miles on it. An English bloke eventually got it, and when he was skiting about it to a friend he was directed to me. I showed him a conrod, and begged him to have good ones made with adequate bolts. It is not total disaster if a bolt breaks, and one of my cars has weld repairs where two rods had gone through the aluminium sump in the distant past. Guess what happened to his. The real disaster is if a rod breaks at the weakest spot just below to pin, because it can cut the engine in two.)

I understand that if AK called on people it was not usually on account of the Hereafter. He was really there after something you had that he expected to pay very little for. Different matter if you needed to buy from him.

That Sotherby's auction catalogue gave insights of the man. He would do what few others would attempt, such as flying home a downed military aircraft with damage to the fuselage after making an improvised repair of the hole in northern winter with canvas and water/ice. Sure, he was not very sociable to outsiders or well liked, and he was eccentric. We have to be grateful that he saved so many cars that might otherwise have no longer existed. There are a lot of indications that he was Aspergers syndrome, which would account for his social gaps and eccentricity. If you can get hold of that sale catalogue you may gain a more balanced understanding of the man he was. Maybe Sotherbys could re-issue that if enough people wanted to pay for one.

[Guest Silverghost]

A K Miller was an autogiro air mail pilot.

The Pitchairn family in Bryn Athen Pa(near me) bought the rights to the Cierva PCA-2 autogiro and wanted to set-up air mail routes. There is famous footage on them landing one on the Whte House lawn !

A K MILLER was one of their pilots.

A John M. Miller was the first to fly a Pitchairn/Cierva PCA-2 PCA rotocraft across the USA in 1931 ! He MUST be somehow related to A K MILLER !Those air mail pilots were fearless in their day.

The Pitchairn family still owns & flys an autogiro called "the Miss Champion Spark Plug"

I do not think many autogiros still survive ! It had stubby wings like a plane with a conventional aircraft engine & prop. The upper large Helo-like blades were not powered but rotated with the foreward motion of the aircraft.

The aicraft was doped cloth covered

I wonder where old A K's knocked-down & stored autogyro went ?

It would be a "Rare Bird" today.

Edited September 22, 2010 by Silverghost (see edit history)

[bruffsup]

CHRISTIES CONDUCTED THE AUCTION, NOT SOTHEBY. I FEEL YOUR CHARACTERIZATION MAY BE OFF THE MARK AS I FEEL THAT HE AND IMOGENE GENUINELY LIKED US. HE HAD NOTHING TO GAIN OTHER THAN FRIENDSHIP AS I HAD NOTHING AT THE TIME. WE SAT AT THEIR KITCHEN TABLE IN THE LEANING FARM HOUSE WHICH HAD QUITE A FEW GERMAN MUSIC BOXES WHICH I DID NOT SEE AT THE AUCTION. WHEN I TOLD A.K. WE WERE GOING TO A MOTORCYCLE MEET IN NEW JERSEY HE DETAILED A ROUTE WHICH WAS PERFECT IN EVERY WAY THROUGH GORGEOUS COUNTRYSIDE DEVOID OF TRAFFIC , A FEAT I AM SURE NO GPS TODAY COULD REPLICATE. I THINK HE HAD A FONDNESS FOR CANADIANS AS HE SPENT WW2 IN THE RCAF AND TRACKED DOWN A FEW CARS UP HERE. I KNOW OF ONE OTHER CANADIAN THAT ALSO GOT ALONG VERY WELL WITH THE MAN. HE CLAIMED TO HAVE BEEN ON FRIENDLY TERMS WITH CANNONBALL BAKER AS WELL!

[Dave Mellor NJ]

Are there any other hoarders around today like old A K Miller

About 20-25 years ago there was a classic car collection amassed by a pair of hermit brothers named Gerbron or something like that in North Jersey. Does anybody remember any of that?

[mdsbob]

Here's a link to the auction results:

A.K.Miller Collection - Motorbase

[K8096]

I think there are 3 Autogyro's in existence. AK, at one time, owned two of the three. One he donated to the Smithsonian. This was sometime in the 1950's or 60's. They asked if they could send a truck up to get it. He said no, I'll deliver it, and he flew it to Washington. I don't know where the "knocked down" one is now. Remember, in the early 1980's movie "Annie", they used one. I don't think John Miller was a relative. AK was an only child, and Miller is a common name. That blue RR roadster was stored in Cleveland for a while back in the 1950's at what is now the Crawford Auto museum. When he wanted it back, he made them put a new battery in it before he drove it back to Vermont. He donated a light green 1923 or 24 Hispano Suiza towncar with wooden body to the Crawford museum and they sold it at the 1990 auction. Cars like this he picked up in NYC in the late 30's and 1940s' for a few hundred dollars each.

[alsancle]

Here is the Rolls page from the catalog.

[alsancle]

And here is the cover and the AK Miller bio.

[Guest Indianfour]

Back in the mid sixties and early seventies, I was continually running ads in Hemmings Motor News inquiring about Auburn parts. Mr. Miller answered several of my ads , stating he had various parts and he always answered with penny post cards!! I still have a few of them! Quite a character!!! Indian Four

[Guest Indianfour]

Back in the mid-sixties and early seventies, I was continually running advertisements in Hemming Motor New , trying to find 1928-1930 Auburn parts. A. K. answered several of my ads and he always answered using penny post cards.. I still have several of those cards yet! He was quite a character!! Indian Four

[mdsbob]

A.J....Keep the scans of the auction catalog pages coming...

[alsancle]

Here are the pages for the DV32 Roadster & Lancefield coupe. The DV32 was restored and shown by Charles Key at Pebble in 99 where it received a 3rd in class. Mr Key also owns/owned a very cool 500k Roadster that was used in a number of German films in the 1930s.

Edited September 22, 2010 by alsancle (see edit history)

[K8096]

Correction. Calvin High is who bought the DV roadster at the Vermont auction. Steve Babinski of NJ restored it in nine months and it was first shown at Meadowbrook in summer of 1997. A year later High sold it to Key in TX. By the way, the car is not restored to the exact colors it was originally. As you can see from the auction catalog, it was tan with light orange fenders. They restored it to be tan with darker tan fenders. Also, it originally had painted rims, painted hubs, and chrome spokes. When they restored it, they chromed everything on the wheels.

Also, the auction catalog description for this car is wrong on two counts. It's not a long wheelbase (145") - it's a short wheelbase (134.5") And it's not the only one known to exist (there are two).

[alsancle]

You learn something new every day :-). Things have changed, even in the last 12 years with regards to originality. I think people are much more inclined to go with original colors unless they are truly god awful.

[K8096]

Oh, I almost forgot. Given it's light earth tone colors, AK had nicknamed the DV roadster "the peanut."

[mdsbob]

The AQ article...The Secret of King Stutz' Tomb is in Vol. 36 No. 3.

[K8096]

That was a white 1928 boattail with woodlite headlights on it. It was one of the last cars in running condition AK had. When they were loading it up on a trailer after the auction, the brakes were still working. Not sure where it is now. The red 1928 boattail is in the Simeone museum in Phily. On the red one, they carefully took the red paint off, and left the original black finish which is how it's displayed now. The DV roadster could have been left original. Just redo the mechanics & leave the rest alone.

[alsancle]

I can see I'm going to have to scan every page. Here is the white one. I'll do the red one later.

As for restore or not, I was just having this conversation yesterday with a friend. If I had my way, I would have just put the original engine back into my Stutz Special and left it with the 80 year old patina. My dad over ruled me (I still more or less do what he tells me to do). The DV32 looked to be in much nicer shape then my car.

[alsancle]

Here is the white one now.

[alsancle]

Here is the DV32 Roadster now.

[Tom Laferriere]

He also had a 1925 Loco 48, which I am now marketing.

[alsancle]

If you haven't seen this account of the auction, it is pretty cool along with pictures. MillerAuction

[alsancle]

Here are the complete auction results:

Lot No Description Estimate Hammer Price Hammer Price

001 Stutz Model M Chassis (1929) $3,000-$5,000 - $7,475

002 Stutz Speedway Sedan (1925) $7,000-$9,000 - $10,350

003 Stutz AA Eight (1927) $7,000-$9,000 - $7,475

004 Stutz AA Sedan (1927) $8,000-$10,000 - $19,550

005 Stutz DV32 Sedan (1932) $12,000-$16,000 - $31,625

007 Stutz Model BB Blackhawk (1928) $30,000-$50,000 - $118,000

008 Stutz Model K Fire Engine (1924) $5,000-$7,000 - $17,825

009 Volkswagen Two Door Sedan (1959) $500-$1,000 - $748

010 Franklin 11A Sedan (1928) $8,000-$12,000 - $5,190

011 Stutz Special Six (1923) $3,000-$5,000 - $4,025

012 Stutz AA Sedan (1927) $8,000-$10,000 - $13,800

013 Franklin 19A Airman (1934) $10,000-$14,000 - $7,130

014 Stutz KLDH Touring (1923) $12,000-$15,000 - $25,875

015 Stutz KLDH Touring (1924) $12,000-$15,000 - $20,700

016 Franklin 153 Sedan (1931) $14,000-$18,000 - $7,475

017 Stutz Bulldog Touring (1917) $15,000-$18,000 - $34,500

018 Stutz Blackhawk Boattail (1928) $40,000-$50,000 - $88,300

019 Stutz Model M Dual Cowl (1929) $50,000-$80,000 - $77,300

020 Volkswagen Two Door Sedan (1965) $1,000-$2,000 - $575

021 Blackhawk Sedan (1929) $5,000-$7,000 - $4,370

022 H.C.S. Touring Car (1923) $5,000-$7,000 - $16,675

023 Henderson Touring Car (1914) $12,000-$14,000 - $17,480

024 Blackhawk Four Door Sedan (1929) $11,000-$13,000 - $8,050

025 Stutz Eight Model M (1929) $10,000-$14,000 - $31,050

026 Stutz Eight Model M (1930) $12,000-$16,000 - $15,100

027 Stutz Series G Sport (1919) $18,000-$24,000 - $24,150

028 Stutz Series K Touring (1922) $18,000-$24,000 - $28,750

029 Locomobile 48 Town Car (1925) $25,000-$35,000 - $50,600

030 Stutz Model 4C Roadster (1916) $30,000-$50,000 - $70,700

031 Stutz Touring Car (1914) $40,000-$60,000 - $70,700

032 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost (1926) $50,000-$75,000 - $129,000

033 Stutz Model 4C Bearcat (1916) $80,000-$110,000 - $173,000

034 Stutz 6B Bearcat (1913) $110,000-$160,000 - $118,000

035 Stutz DV32 Roadster (1933) $130,000-$180,000 - $167,500

036 Stutz Eight Supercharged (1930) $140,000-$200,000 - $151,000

037 Stanley Steamer 7 Passenger (1924) $12,000-$15,000 - $17,250

038 Franklin Four Door Sedan (1927) $2,000-$4,000 - $1,610

039 H.C.S. Touring Car (1923) $2,000-$4,000 - $4,830

040 Stutz Touring Car (1922) $5,000-$10,000 - $11,500

041 H.C.S. Touring Car (1923) $8,000-$10,000 - $13,800

042 Stutz SV16 Sedan (1931) $8,000-$10,000 - $11,500

044 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia $800-$1,000 - $81

045 H.C.S. Touring Car (1923) $8,000-$10,000 - $21,850

046 Stutz Special Six (1923) $15,000-$18,000 - $25,300

047 Stutz Bearcat (1921) $20,000-$30,000 - $66,300

048 Stutz Bearcat (1920) $20,000-$30,000 - $57,500

049 Stutz Bearcat (1920) $30,000-$40,000 - $57,500