Ak Miller is a legend among racers and a personal hero. I ran across a couple of pictures of him and his Cleveland powered Mustang which was one of his Pikes Peak race cars. So I thought I'd share them with you guys.



Ak Miller standing at the top of Pikes Peak with the 1970 Mustang he drove to a win in the stock car class in 1971.




He drove this Mustang powered by a 500 bhp Ford 351 Cleveland to a time of 14:18.61.
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Ak was born Akton Moeller in Denmark, his family immigrated to Southern California when he was just a small child. He worked in various garages as young man, and followed his brothers, Lawrence and Zeke to the dry lakes in the 1930s, and began a love affair with racing that lasted his entire life.

Hes raced the dry lakes, Bonneville Salt Flats, Pikes Peak Hill Climb and road races in Italy and Mexico. He's a former President of the SCTA (Southern California Timing Association) and a founder and former Vice President of the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association), and he's a member of the Dry Lakes Hall of Fame. He was a terror at the Pikes Peak Hill Climbs, winning his class 9 times, with Ray Brock as his crew. He and Brock also competed in and won their class in the 1963 Baja 1000 Road Race. He was a contractor for Ford during the Total Performance Era of the 1960s, he was a member of a large team of incredibly talented people who helped put Ford in the winner's circle at races around the world.

Ak worked for Hannah Nixon, mother of president Richard M Nixon, in their store in Whittier, back in the 1930s. Ak remembers seeing Richard Nixon studying at the old secretary desk in the store, and asking Ak to bring him a candy bar and to "help yourself as well." Years later, when visiting the White House as a member of a racing contingent, Ak found himself teased and everyone doubted that he had ever known the President. Nixon strode in and grasped the hand of his old friend and said, "Ak, did you bring me a candy bar?"

Ak developed one of the earliest "hop up" parts for the Pantera, a turbo-charger kit that mounted behind the motor.

-G

Excellent George! Thanks for sharing this interesting bit of history.

Cool thanks George ...was that the turbo that sold on ebay about a year ago.

Ron

Ron I don't remember a turbo kit for sale on eBay, but here's a picture of Ak Miller's turbo kit (the air cleaner & valve covers are Hall Pantera items):

George, I recognize that picture as right out of the Ford Performance book.

quote:

Originally posted by Corey Price:
George, I recognize that picture as right out of the Ford Performance book.

That's correct. I could have used more dots per inch too, because the picture came out a little grainy. That book was originally published in 1973, so you see Ak developed this turbo kit very early while Ford was still importing them. I would guess the kit was marketed via the Gran Turismo company, or perhaps AutoSport Products/Shelby; both companies were fronts for Ford.

An interesting side note: Ak, being the hot-rodder that he was, liked turbo charging very much. He was in the fore front in the hot rod world when it came to installing turbo chargers in cars; long before it became popular in the 1980's.

-G

...Yes! AK is My Hero Also! I followed his Proven Recomendations to the Letter; when I Built My Cleveland! 521 HP 460 Lb/Ft @ 6500-7500 RPM. Normally Aspirated! And NO Bottles! I "Have the Power Every Hour!!"...

I had Ford Performance just about memorized as a teenager, and I can still remember some of the pictures. My brothers and I had some fun with Mustangs and 1966 Ford trucks (all with 352's). I didn't know who produced the turbo in the 351 cleveland build, but I do remember that it said it was from Hall Pantera.

Maybe a little too much fun with those old Fords... The oldest of us had to bend the front axle stabilizer bar (I think- it held the front axle in place on 2wd trucks) back in shape after a bit too much fun in a gravel pit, and I had to put a new bed on my truck from a similar mishap.

Here's another method, using a supercharger driven off the flywheel.

Note the EFI. This was shot at Quella's shop by Thomas of Sweden.

Larry

The Hall version is Millers setup. The engines were being built by Doug Cook, Mike Cooks father for Gary Hall.

I recently have been shown the benefits of supercharging with a Vortec on my sons Contour SVT. The thing is a buzz rocket. It is a real low 12 second street car. Over 80mph the thing turns into the Starship Enterprize going into warp drive. It just goes from 80 to 130 faster then one eye blink.

The problem on any of this supercharger stuff in the Pantera is...where do you put it? Everything is just so squeezed for space?

Another draw back in the Pantera is that supercharged engines run hotter. That's not a problem to look forward to in a Pantera?