Alexander Kennedy Miller
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Alexander Kennedy Miller (1906 – October 23, 1993), also known as A. K. Miller, was an eccentric recluse who operated Miller's Flying Service in 1930, in Montclair, New Jersey. Miller provided mail and other delivery services by means of a gyrocopter, as well as listing "Expert Automobile Repairing" and "Aeroplanes Rebuilt & Overhauled" on his business card.[1] He became famous in his later years for his eccentricities and for his huge stash of valuable antique cars.
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[edit] Youth and Education
Miller was the only child of a wealthy New York stock broker and wholesale merchant. He attended Rutgers University on a scholarship to study mechanical engineering. An anecdote alongside his yearbook picture recounts an occasion on which he zoomed down the street on a motorcycle, coatless, in the dead of winter, heading to the barber shop "for his quarterly haircut".[2] [3]
[edit] Marriage and middle age
In 1941, Miller married Imogene Raymond (1917-1996), the daughter of William Everett Raymond and Maria Louise Cook. [2] At the death of his father in the 1970s, he inherited a large sum of money.
[edit] Vermont years
After retiring, Miller and his wife moved to a large farm in East Orange, Vermont. It is here that Miller's eccentricities began to emerge. He exchanged most of his cash for gold and silver bars and coins.[4] He took the gyrocopter apart and stored the pieces inside an old one-room schoolhouse that stood on his property. Over the years, he constructed a large number of sheds and ramshackle barns out of scrap lumber and nails that he scavenged from various places. Inside the shacks, Miller concealed his trove of prized Stutz motorcars. While locals knew he had a Stutz or two, and Miller was known to other Stutz collectors, nobody knew the true extent of the collection.
As time went by, the farmhouse and the farm in general became dilapidated. In keeping with his frugal nature, Miller himself drove beat-up Volkswagen Beetles and when one would break down or he grew tired of it, he would abandon it in his yard. The neighbors often worried that the Millers were poor, and sometimes made offers of charity.
At times, to raise cash, Miller would sell "spare parts" to other Stutz owners for their repair/restoration projects. However, rather than selling the actual parts (which he owned a large quantity of), he would painstakingly fabricate them himself from scrap metal, using his cars and spares as guides. He was known to other Stutz aficionados as a shrewd but cheap businessman.
[edit] Death and treasure
What this miserly lifestyle and ill-kept property hid was eventually to bring $2.18 million at auction. The 87-year-old A.K. Miller himself died in 1993 after falling from a ladder[1], and Imogene died of a heart attack in 1996. As no heirs were found, the IRS moved in to assess the value of the estate (taking a particular interest in collecting the years of back taxes the Millers had owed)[5].
All told, approximately 30 original Stutz motorcars, a Stanley Steamer, a 1926 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, several Franklins, a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (which had somehow been placed in the loft of the main barn) [6], and assorted VW Beetles were discovered throughout the property. The main barn and the various sheds and shacks Miller had constructed over the years hid a fortune in antique vehicles and a huge number of spare parts Miller had purchased from the Stutz company when it went out of business[5].
A further $1 million in gold bullion was discovered hidden in the wood pile. $900,000 in stock certificates, and $75,000 in silver bullion and coins were also uncovered in various safes and crawlspaces[7].
A huge, 3-day auction was held by Christie's Auction House to liquidate the Miller estate, including the cache of antique and other automobiles, and a cache of other collected items including music boxes (one of which sold for $7,040[1], typewriters, sewing machines, spool cabinets, and other assorted mini-collections. Today, the A.K. Miller collection is recognized as one of the largest and most well-known collections of Stutz motorcars.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c "East Orange Vermont Treasure Trove," Maine Antique Digest 1996
- ^ a b New York Times; August 18, 1996
- ^ A Real Barn Find
- ^ http://coolcatcorp.com/millerauction/MillerAuction.html Auction attendee's personal account
- ^ a b "A.K. Miller's Amazing Stutz Stash," Automobile Quarterly, Vol.36 #3
- ^ "Miller Auto Trove Exceeds Wildest Expectations; Brings $2.18 Mil," Maine Antique Digest, October 1996
- ^ http://www.in.gov/ism/Exhibits_Collections/Collection/col_stutz.aspx Indiana State Museum
