#also a typewriter and a vw beetle

[art-little-nonsense]

My contribution to the @hxhbb19 Big Bang event - the fic i got to illustrate was A Soft Place to Fall (General 3 on the list), by @jyuanka - and it’s just too great for words! Amazingly written, with a mood that will make you think of sleepy Italian towns (it certainly did so for me) and a story that tugs at the heart. A must read!

Since it was dubbed a ‘Ghibli AU’ i tried to modify my style a bit to fit the theme... and i am pretty satisfied with the result for once :D

Also, i’m posting here as the big bang is a tumblr-centred event, but it’s not a comeback of any kind, i’m still planning to keep off this site. My main art-dump is now my Twitter. 

[steampunkvehicles]

The Stutz Stash of AK Miller

Alexander Kennedy Miller (July 14, 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, US. Miller provided mail and other delivery services by means of an autogyro, as well as listing "Expert Automobile Repairing" and "Aeroplanes Rebuilt & Overhauled" on his business card. In his later years he was known for his eccentricities, and his collection of valuable antique cars.

After retiring from the Air Force in 1946, Miller and his wife moved to a large farm in East Orange, Vermont. The house had no central heating, antiquated plumbing and limited electricity; hot water was created by metal coils inside the wood stove.

It is here that Miller's eccentricities began to emerge. He exchanged most of his cash for gold and silver bars and coins. He took his autogyro 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 usually 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 own cars and spare parts as templates.

In the 1970s, Miller's father died and Miller inherited the estate in Montclair and the family fortune.

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, 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).

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), and assorted VW Beetles were discovered about 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.

A further $1 million in gold bullion was discovered hidden in the wood pile. About $900,000 in stock certificates, and $75,000 in silver bullion and coins were also uncovered in various safes and crawl spaces.

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), 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.

http://nicholaswhitman.com/a-k-miller-stutz-stash-antique-autos/