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1954 Ak Miller’s “El Caballo de Hierro”
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1954 Ak Miller’s “El Caballo de Hierro”
Country of Origin: USA
Design Info: Custom two-seat sports roadster built for road racing. Assembled from 1950 Ford platform, 1927 Ford Model T Body, Cadillac transmission, and an assortment of other parts.
Engine Info: A 340 cubic inch Oldsmobile V8 (I believe but cannot confirm a heavily-modified Rocket 303).
Type/Competition: This car is a custom-built hot rod, but unlike most stereotypical hot rods, it was built to compete with the sports racers of its era, including Ferrari 212s and 375s, Porsche 550s, and the Mercedes 300SL.
History: Mexico’s answer to the Mille Miglia, a border-to-border race called the Carrera Panamericana, was inaugurated in 1950 to celebrate the completion of the Mexican section of the Pan-American Highway. The first race was won by an Oldsmobile 88, but now that the world knew about the race, manufacturers began to get involved. Ferrari, Mercedes, and other European manufacturers began sending sports cars to the race, dominating the competition.
In 1953 Ak Miller, an American racer with years of experience in multiple types of events and the Vice President of the NHRA decided to enter. Working with an Oldsmobile dealer, he entered a ‘53 Olds into the event, only to discover that a stock car was ill-suited to the conditions of the race, and was forced to retire about halfway through.
Miller was no quitter, however, and desired to beat the Europeans. He began work on a custom-built hot rod sports car to challenge the likes of Ferrari, Mercedes, Lancia, and Porsche. Built from a wide range of parts, the vehicle that would be named El Caballo de Hierro (The Iron Horse) and called “La Ensalada” (The Salad) by the Mexican press was completed to race in the 1954 Carrera.
Because he did not own a trailer, Miller drove the vehicle over 2000 miles to the starting point in Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Using this as a shakedown run, he and his team discovered several shortcomings of the design, notably that the drivetrain could not handle the power from the modified Olds V8. During the race, Ak was forced to reduce speed to preserve the parts as long as possible through each stage, and one of his support vehicles drove ahead to procure replacement parts for the vehicle. At race’s end, El Caballo managed 8th in its class and 14th overall, with Miller determined to return with an improved car.
With the inadequate parts replaced, El Caballo reentered in 1954 and managed a 5th place class finish and 7th overall, behind only the four Ferrari factory cars and a pair of Porsche Spyders in the “Small Sports Car” class. The Mexican people loved Ak Miller’s car, which managed an average speed of 94.1 miles per hour over the 1921 mile race. Miller had plans for a further improved car for 1955, and upon his return set about building El Caballo II.
Unfortunately, much of Caballo was cannibalized for the new car, and doubly unfortunate, the dangerous Carrera Panamericana, which claimed many lives, was canceled. Miller did race Caballo II in the Mille Miglia, but had little success compared to his time in Mexico. He sold off what remained of Caballo, and that might have been the end of the roadster’s’ story.
Fortunately, in 1988 a revival of the Carrera Panamericana was announced. Around the same time, a man named Bruce Glascock was contacting Ak Miller about the old car. Learning that El Caballo had been parted out, Glasock decided that if the car had been built once, it could be built again. Working with Miller and other members of his original crew, Glasock builta new Caballo, using (mostly) the same parts as the original. Once completed, this reincarnated Iron Horse was raced in the revival of the Carrera, as well as other heritage events.
Why it’s cool/unique/significant: Any time a guy goes into his garage to build a car to compete with the big manufacturers it’s cool, even if it doesn’t amount to much. In this case, though, the man came out with a competitive race car for a grueling event. Additionally, this car was culturally significant, a sort of hero car built for the Carrera Panamericana and carrying some of the spirit of the Mexican people, even if it didn’t win the whole thing.