Craftsman Special celebrates the work of IndyCar builder Harry Miller
The Craftsman – a one-of-a-kind racer that pays tribute to the 1920s and 1930s IndyCars built by Harry Miller – will cross the blocks at the Historics Ascot Racecourse sale on 1st March 2025.
Rather than being a reproduction of a particular car, the Craftsman honours Miller’s engineering and design, built using modern technology by Lamb Precision Engineering (LPE) of Salisbury, Wiltshire, a company better known for its show-winning motorcycles.
The car has a period-correct 4.3-litre Ford Flathead V8 motor built by Royal Customs – a specialist in these motors – with a 24-stud block, flowed and ported heads, high-lift cams and a stroker crankshaft. The engine is estimated to produce 172PS (127kW) and comes with bills totalling more than £20,000. It’s hooked to a five-speed gearbox, and the Craftsman is, we’re told, well-able for modern traffic.
Historics doesn’t quote a weight, but you can expect the car to be very light because A – it doesn’t have much bodywork, and B – what bodywork it does have is made of aluminium.
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LPE developed the car’s Nixie tube speedometer, axles, brakes and hubs in-house, and while the Craftsman is rear-wheel drive up front, it has a geared watts linkage up front, paying homage to the front and four-wheel drive cars built by Miller.
Finished in 2018 and built to showcase LPE’s work, the Craftsman took 4,000 hours to complete. It has covered just a few hundred miles since, comes to auction with a V5, and carries an estimate of £55,000 – £65,000.