A
ll is not as it seems before you. What
appears to beasuperbrestoration of a
Twenties Miller Indy car is no such thing.It’svirtually all brand-new and handcrafted in
the style ofaTwenties’ Miller.Owner and creator
LarryHoughton says: “It isatribute to Harry
Miller,toe ngineering and to all those old boys
who used to stand at lathes all day long, like I’ve
done for 40 yyears.”
Larry, now62, has been involved in
engineering for nearly all of his working life.
From humble beginnings working out of his
dad’sgarage,he has built upasuccessful
company,LambEngineering, not too far
from Salisbury, which currently employs eight
people. He says: “Wespecialise in the sort
of engineering jobs and ‘one-offs’ that often
nobodyyelse wants to do.” He adds: “But we
aren’tmotor engineers.”
However,Larry has made
quite anamefor himself in
thhemotorcycle world for
buuilding exquisitely detailed
mmulti-a ward winning
cuustom bikes, which he does
asahobby.Int he last 11
yeaars he’screated arou nd a
doozen absolute gems which
hetakes to shows around
theeworld. In 2011 in the
AMMDWorld Championship
ofCCustom Bike Building, his
raddical BSA Gold Star 500
“SoonofaGun” won both
theBritish and European
Chaampionship titles and wasrunner-up in theWorld Championship at Sturgis
in America.
Larryexplains: “I fanciedachange from
building bikes andafriend suggested that I
should buildacar.Iwante dtobuild something
different with not too much bodywork, so that
you could see all the mechanical components
andthatwould show off the engineering skills of
our company.Ialsowanted to learn something
new.Ididn’tknowmuchabout ol dcarssoI
bought some books and became fascinated by
HarryMille r.”
Harold Arminius Miller,the son ofaGerman
father andaCanadia nmother,was born in
December 1875 in Menomonie,Wisconsin.
The young Harrydevelopedalove of all things
mechanical and bailed out of school at just
13 to pursueacareerpath which included
bicycles, engineering and the design and
building of outboard motors and carburettors.
Through his highly successful and lucrative
carburettor business, he became involved with
the development of racing cars and, for such an
inventive mind, it was inevitable that he should
start to build his own race engines,a183cuin
straight-eight version of which powered Jimmy
Murphy’sDuesenberg to pole position andCraftsmanship is something that is often lamented to be on the decline in theautomotive world; not so in one corner of Wiltshire, as Steve Havelock discovered –behold the skilfully crafted Craftsman...1920 Miller IndyCarTribute
Words&Photography:Steve Havelock