Marv’s Garage: the brave ride of the Caballo di Hierro
This is the tale of when a hot rodder took on Europe’s best sports car companies at the most dangerous race in the world. In an iron horse.
Arkton Moeller, better known as Ak Miller, was a legend long before 1953. He kicked Gerry Hun in the nuts at the Battle of the Bulge during WW2, then went back to America to be president of the SCTA (where he set numerous speed records), moving on to help Wally Parks build the NHRA (including starting the Safety Safari). But it was in 1953 and ’54 that Miller entered folklore, with his home-built Oldsmobile-powered 1927 Ford taking on the might of the latest sports racing cars and some of Europe’s best drivers in the most dangerous race ever run, the Carrera Panamericana.
Starting in 1950 the Carrera Panamericana was a Mexican road rally which earned a terrible reputation thanks to 25 spectators and entrants perishing in the four times it was run in its original format. The final Carrera, in 1954, would see 8 stages held across 3070km (1900mi), which the winner Umberto Maglioli covered in just 17hr 40min behind the wheel of a Ferrari 375 Plus.
Sitting on a 1950 Ford chassis Miller’s 2-seat jalopy was up against factory backed teams from Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and Lancia, with gun drivers like Karl Kling, Piero Taruffi, Umberto Maglioli, Richie Ginther, Carrell Shelby, Hans Herrmann, Louis Chiron, and F1 World Champs Phil Hill and Juan Manuel Fangio.
However, Miller was a ferocious competitor and, besides, he’d already given his car the most awesome name ever bestowed to a race car, ever, in history, of the universe: “El Caballo di Hierro” (The Iron Horse). After finishing 14th in 1953 Miller came home seventh outright in the ’54 Carrera.
The Iron Horse can be seen today at the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona, California. Go marvel at how a Danish-Californian hot rodder piloted an under-powered home-built V8 bedframe over 3000km in 20hrs 21mins, finishing minutes behind factory Ferrari and Porsche teams.
