Image: Selections from the Price Museum of Speed, including Miller and Studebaker race cars from the Golden Age of American Racing

Text & Image: .Gooding Christie’s

Gooding Christie’s Amelia Island sale will feature Miller and Studebaker Indy 500 cars from the Price Museum of Speed, alongside other prewar selections from Bugatti, Bentley, and Cadillac. 

International collector car auction house Gooding Christie’s will return to the Omni Amelia Island Resort on Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6 to conduct its annual Amelia Island sale, featuring the just-announced trio of Miller and Studebaker Indianapolis 500 race cars from the 1930s from the Price Museum of Speed, a distinguished collection of American competition icons. Leading the collection is an incredibly important FWD Special, among the most significant American racing cars ever built by Harry A. Miller, the iconic engineer responsible for many Indianapolis 500-winning inventions. Registration to bid for the upcoming auctions are accessible online via goodingco.com. 

Rupert Banner, Gooding Christie’s Senior Specialist, said: "We are honored to present this important trio of cars from the Price Museum of Speed in Utah representing the Golden Age of American Racing and Indianapolis. Each are covetable for their technical ingenuity, aerodynamic specifications, and open wheel aesthetics, led by the remarkable Four Wheel Drive Miller, the sole survivor of two built by Harry Miller, and the culmination of his front and rear drive designs adjoined in this definitive racer which ran at Indy no fewer than six times."

The centerpiece of  selections from the Price Museum of Speed is the 1932 Miller FWD Special (Estimate: $2,000,000 – $3,000,000), one of the most daring, complex, and historically important race cars ever conceived. This Four-Wheel-Drive (FWD) Special is among the most significant surviving Miller automobiles and the only remaining example of the groundbreaking four-wheel-drive racer. Two examples were completed in time for the 1932 Indianapolis 500, including this car, chassis 02, assigned to board-track star Bob McDonough. After the race, chassis 02 was improved upon, returning to the Speedway for the 1933 Indianapolis 500 with driver Frank Brisko. It would go on to be a six-time Indianapolis 500 entrant, placing 4th in 1936 with Mauri Rose, and eventually would be raced by Bill Milliken at Pikes Peak, Watkins Glen, and Mt. Equinox between 1948 and 1951.

In later years, throughout the 1990s and 2000s, this FWD was displayed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the Louis Vuitton Classic, and the Watkins Glen 50th Anniversary Celebration. John Price, a dedicated collector of Miller race cars and American racing history, has owned this FWD since 2008, where it has been maintained in his museum. Under his ownership, this chassis 02 was displayed at the 2013 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, where it was featured in a special class honoring the legacy of Harry Miller.

Also offered from the Museum of Speed collection is a one-off 1924 Miller ‘183 Convertible’ Speed Record Car (Estimate: $1,000,000 – $1,400,000) built for two-time Indy 500 winner Tommy Milton. Originally designed to accept either 122 or 183 CID straight-eight engines, this Miller recorded 151.26 mph at Muroc Dry Lake in April 1924. Rounding out the trio is the 1931 Studebaker Special Indy Car (Estimate: $800,000 – $1,000,000) built by Ab Jenkins and George Hunt. One of the most significant surviving stock-block Indy cars, this remarkably intact Studebaker retains the President Eight engine with which it competed in three Indianapolis 500s and achieved its landmark victory at the 1931 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb.

Additional prewar offerings at the Amelia Island Auctions include a desirable late-production 1938 Bugatti Type 57 Cabriolet (Estimate: $800,000 – $1,200,000), chassis 57742, wearing sporting Vanvooren coachwork. Retaining its matching-numbers engine with an upgraded supercharger, this Type 57 was displayed at Pebble Beach in 2012 and 2024. Also offered is a genuine “Red Label” 1924 Bentley 3 Litre Speed Model Sports Tourer (Estimate: $300,000 – $350,000) with a definitive Vanden Plas sports body, custom built for Vanden Plas Director Frank Fox and known from new as “The Golden Bentley.”

The auctions will also feature a quartet of early 1930s cars from Cadillac collector and restorer Thomas Young, offered without reserve. Included is a rare, open example 1931 Cadillac Series 370A V-12 Convertible Coupe (Estimate: $140,000 – $180,000, Without Reserve), a 1932 Cadillac Series 370B V-12 Convertible Coupe (Estimate: $140,000 – $180,000, Without Reserve) with Fisher coachwork, a 1930 Cadillac Series 452 V-16 Convertible Sedan (Estimate: $125,000 – $175,000, Without Reserve) finished in medium and light red livery with a contrasting caramel-colored leather interior and a tan cloth soft top, and lastly, a 1930 Cadillac Series 452 V-16 Seven-Passenger Sedan (Estimate: $90,000 – $120,000, Without Reserve) delivered new to US Secretary of Treasury Andrew Mellon.

Amelia Island Auctions
Date: Thursday, March 5 and Friday, March 6
Location: Racquet Park, Omni Amelia Island Resort
Public Preview: Wednesday, March 4 through Friday, March 6
General Admission: $50, includes admission for one to the viewing and the auctions
Bidder Registration: www.goodingco.com/register
Live Auction Broadcast: www.goodingco.com