Ak Miller

I was curious about an interesting tag on one of the Studebakers my Dad owns and was wondering if maybe anyone here might be able to shed some light on it.

First off, my dad has a thing for studebakers and owns a few. Right now he has a 1952 starlight coupe hotrod, a 41 business coupe project, a 1960 Hawk and if it counts, a 1976 Avanti II. Anyway the Hawk is kinda neat becuase it looks like it was warmed over in the 60's or 70's. Nothing real fancy, an early hurst ratchet shifter and wheels... But on the shift is a tag that reads 'Turbocharged by Ak Miller'.

At one time the orignal 289 was turbocharged but the system had been removed by the previous owner. The previous owner had taken the turbo off and chunked in the trash and welded up the exhuast.

I'm wondering if anyone has ever heard of this or other studebakers being turbocharged. I've never seen or even heard of any others but maybe someone here has. I know Ak Miller was a racer and was very involved in things back in the 40s through the 60's and 70s but havent ever seen any kind of association with him and studebakers or really any street cars (The hawk wasnt a race car of anykind, just a hotrod it seems).

this is the hawk (if any of you are in the Phoenix area you might recognize it )




Any info that anyone might have or know would be appriciated, just to satisfy my own curiosity. I've always been curious about it and the idea of turbocharging a Studebaker 289 (its not an R series engine that I'm aware of btw) has always intrigued me. I seriously doubt it would ever be turbocharged again but still knowing what it used to be would be nice.

[lstude]

I have heard of AK Miller, but that is all I know. However, a friend of mine, Tom Covington, has been running turbos for a long time. Below is a picture of a roadster he built on a 61 Lark chassis. The engine is a 289 with turbos. This car no longer exists, but Tom is still running turbos on Studebaker engines and doing well at the local dragstrip.




Leonard Shepherd, editor, The Commanding Leader, Central Virginia Chapter, http://centralvirginiachapter.org/

[lstude]

I have heard of AK Miller, but that is all I know. However, a friend of mine, Tom Covington, has been running turbos for a long time. Below is a picture of a roadster he built on a 61 Lark chassis. The engine is a 289 with turbos. This car no longer exists, but Tom is still running turbos on Studebaker engines and doing well at the local dragstrip.




Leonard Shepherd, editor, The Commanding Leader, Central Virginia Chapter, http://centralvirginiachapter.org/

[Chris Pile]

Ak Miller was VERY involved with developing turbocharging systems for racing and street applications. By the way - your Dad's Hawk was supercharged from the factory.

In case you're confused - superchargers are powered by the engine via belts, turbochargers are powered by the pressure of the exhaust.

Chris Pile
The Studebaker Special
Midway Chapter SDC

[Chris Pile]

Ak Miller was VERY involved with developing turbocharging systems for racing and street applications. By the way - your Dad's Hawk was supercharged from the factory.

In case you're confused - superchargers are powered by the engine via belts, turbochargers are powered by the pressure of the exhaust.

Chris Pile
The Studebaker Special
Midway Chapter SDC

[studegary]

quote:Originally posted by Chris Pile

Ak Miller was VERY involved with developing turbocharging systems for racing and street applications. By the way - your Dad's Hawk was supercharged from the factory.


Chris Pile
The Studebaker Special
Midway Chapter SDC

This ("Hawk was supercharged from the factory") is a new one on me. I sure would like to see the factory build order for a 1960 Studebaker Hawk with either a supercharger or turbocharger.

I don't believe that dustin51 was implying or trying to make us believe that it was a factory set up. The "welded up the exhaust" part would also make me believe that he was referring to a turbocharger and not a supercharger.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

[studegary]

quote:Originally posted by Chris Pile

Ak Miller was VERY involved with developing turbocharging systems for racing and street applications. By the way - your Dad's Hawk was supercharged from the factory.


Chris Pile
The Studebaker Special
Midway Chapter SDC

This ("Hawk was supercharged from the factory") is a new one on me. I sure would like to see the factory build order for a 1960 Studebaker Hawk with either a supercharger or turbocharger.

I don't believe that dustin51 was implying or trying to make us believe that it was a factory set up. The "welded up the exhaust" part would also make me believe that he was referring to a turbocharger and not a supercharger.

Gary L.
Wappinger, NY

1959 DeLuxe pickup (restomod)

[dustin51]

quote:Originally posted by Chris Pile

Ak Miller was VERY involved with developing turbocharging systems for racing and street applications. By the way - your Dad's Hawk was supercharged from the factory.

In case you're confused - superchargers are powered by the engine via belts, turbochargers are powered by the pressure of the exhaust.

Chris Pile
The Studebaker Special
Midway Chapter SDC

How can you tell that it was originally supercharged? I thought that it was just a standard 289 hawk with a twin traction rear end.

And no I'm not confused on the differance between supercharging and turbocharging.

Yes, this car was turbocharged. The Exhaust manifolds were modified for the turbo system but the previous owner removed it when he got it since it had seized up or whatever. Then he welded up the holes in the exhaust that were used to power the turbo. My dad has since replaced those old exhaust since the guy did kind of a hack job repairing them.

Thank you for the replies

Dustin

[dustin51]

quote:Originally posted by Chris Pile

Ak Miller was VERY involved with developing turbocharging systems for racing and street applications. By the way - your Dad's Hawk was supercharged from the factory.

In case you're confused - superchargers are powered by the engine via belts, turbochargers are powered by the pressure of the exhaust.

Chris Pile
The Studebaker Special
Midway Chapter SDC

How can you tell that it was originally supercharged? I thought that it was just a standard 289 hawk with a twin traction rear end.

And no I'm not confused on the differance between supercharging and turbocharging.

Yes, this car was turbocharged. The Exhaust manifolds were modified for the turbo system but the previous owner removed it when he got it since it had seized up or whatever. Then he welded up the holes in the exhaust that were used to power the turbo. My dad has since replaced those old exhaust since the guy did kind of a hack job repairing them.

Thank you for the replies

Dustin

[JBOYLE]

Was that the same (AK?) Miller whose estate included a dozen Stutz cars...and buried gold...about 10 years ago?
There was a big article in Automobile Quarterly...

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[JBOYLE]

Was that the same (AK?) Miller whose estate included a dozen Stutz cars...and buried gold...about 10 years ago?
There was a big article in Automobile Quarterly...

63 Avanti R1 2788
1914 Stutz Bearcat
(George Barris replica)

Washington State

[Dick Clemens]

Ak Miller had a shop specialising in Turbo chargers in Pico rivera in Los angeles county .Ak Miller worked for Mickey Thompson, Designing race cars and other things that Mickey was involved in. Ak was very involved in racing and in the 50's he designed and built a truck to use for the Mexican road race, this truck had every thing needed for a machine shop or to save the day in the midst of inner Mexico for a race car repair. The truck was an R series 2 ton powered by a Chrysler HEMI. He said he picked the Studebaker because of the wiring being out in the open. I've often wondered what happened to the truck. there was an article in Hod Rod Magazine about it years ago.

[Dick Clemens]

Ak Miller had a shop specialising in Turbo chargers in Pico rivera in Los angeles county .Ak Miller worked for Mickey Thompson, Designing race cars and other things that Mickey was involved in. Ak was very involved in racing and in the 50's he designed and built a truck to use for the Mexican road race, this truck had every thing needed for a machine shop or to save the day in the midst of inner Mexico for a race car repair. The truck was an R series 2 ton powered by a Chrysler HEMI. He said he picked the Studebaker because of the wiring being out in the open. I've often wondered what happened to the truck. there was an article in Hod Rod Magazine about it years ago.

[Alan]

AK Miller was on Bermudez St. in Pico Rivera, he was the local L.A. outlet for Garrett turbos until sometime in the late 80's when he had a falling out with the big wigs at Allied Signal. He was very opinionated, if he thought you were full of s**t he would tell you so. When I started to work for Garrett in 77 you could buy 2 turbos a year through AK at $168 apiece. Employee price.

[Alan]

AK Miller was on Bermudez St. in Pico Rivera, he was the local L.A. outlet for Garrett turbos until sometime in the late 80's when he had a falling out with the big wigs at Allied Signal. He was very opinionated, if he thought you were full of s**t he would tell you so. When I started to work for Garrett in 77 you could buy 2 turbos a year through AK at $168 apiece. Employee price.