WANT TO RACE IN THE MILLE?
Bring money & patience and you could enter one of the world's premier vintage events
The recent release of the movie Ferrari, based on the unflinching 1991 biography Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine, by motorsport journalist Brock Yates, has again shed light on the Mille Miglia, the 1,000-mile (hence the name) race on Italian roads, from Brescia in the north to Rome and back again. Millions of spectators lined the route to watch their heroes battle for glory at breakneck speeds, sometimes with deadly results.
The Mille, which ran from 1927 to 1957, was (spoiler alert for moviegoers) cancelled after the tragedy of 1957, when the Ferrari 335 S driven by the Marquis de Portago crashed at high speed just 50 kilometres from the finish, killing him, co-driver Edmund Nelson, and nine spectators, including five children.
Twenty years later, however, the Mille Miglia was resurrected as a Storica, a multi-day “regularity” rally for classic and vintage machinery, with participation limited to cars that competed in the original Milles (or are of the same year, make and model). It is on the must-do list for gearheads of sufficient means — the basic entry fee last year was about $17,700 — with a long line of applicants. Participation was capped at 400 cars in 2023.
But while the stars of the show are the mega-pricey Ferraris (classic car insurance provider Hagerty pegs the very rare 335 S of the type Portago drove at $48 million), as well as Maseratis, Alfas, Mercedes, Astons, Jaguars, etc., the variety of cars that can compete are as prosaic as they are prolific. Not only smaller sports cars such as Triumph TR2S and 3s, MGAS, Oscas, and Siatas, but truly basic family-type transportation — think DKWS, Fiat Topolinos, Citroëns, Renault 4Vs and Volkswagens.
While European manufacturers make up the vast majority of entrants, there are a few American-built cars that qualify. At the risk of sounding snooty, most of these Detroit (and South Bend, Ind.,) models are, at first blush, not exactly race material. Still, they are decidedly less expensive, not to mention more comfortable, for those looking for a cheap ride with which to enter.
It would be natural to think the Corvette, which debuted in 1953, is on the list. That would be a no — at least until last year, when a 1957 car appeared as an entry in the Storica. (An error, perhaps, or a new concession by the organizers?) Technically, the Corvette was never entered by General Motors as a factory ride during the Mille Miglia, nor was it a private entry.
However, its crosstown rival from Dearborn, Mich., was in the 1957 Mille. A red 1955 Ford Thunderbird, entered by Italians Francois Smadsa and Anna Rafelli, left the start at 4:34 a.m. (hence wearing the race number 434) and, 15 hours, 11 minutes, 11 seconds later, crossed the finish line in 137th place, not a terrible showing for a heavy (1,525 kilogram) vehicle.
The Thunderbird could be considered a veritable speedster, though, compared to the next two American lead sleds that competed. First up, the 1954 Oldsmobile Holiday Super 88 Coupe, replete with 185-horsepower, 324 cubic inch V8 (with four-barrel carburetor), car No. 334 was entered by the team of Santi and Pozzato (sorry, no first names are recorded) in the '54 race.
Unfortunately, the car did not make it to the finish. Like the T-bird, the Olds would have been a handful on the narrow roads. To be fair, though, the big (5.1-litre) Rocket 88 engine powering it made the Coupe a force to be reckoned with during the early days of NASCAR.
One year earlier, a 1953 Chrysler Saratoga (1,791 kg) ran in the Mille Miglia piloted by noted Belgian driver/journalist Paul Frère and Andre Milhoux. This was a similar car to the 1951 model that placed 11th in Mexico's famed Carrera Panamericana race. These cars were powered by the first of Chrysler's iconic Hemi engines, introduced in '51. The 331 cu. in. (5.4 L) V8 produced 180 hp and was mated to a four-speed automatic in the Saratoga. (Interestingly, the Hemi engine was formerly named Firepower V-8 by Chrysler). Frère and Milhoux finished 58th overall, and first in the Unlimited Touring class.
I think the sleek Studebaker Golden Hawk, a two-door pillarless hardtop produced between 1956 and '58 was the prettiest of the postwar American production entries in the Mille.
The most powerful as well, with a 275-hp, 352 cu. in. (5.8 L) Packard V8 under its hood. A pair of Swiss motorists registered as Daniel Pache and R. Flury participated in the 1956 race, but retired the car less than 320 km in, the reason for the DNF not recorded.
The Golden Hawk was, in its day, noted for exceptional performance for a production car. The July 1956 issue of Speed Age magazine tested the Golden Hawk against the Chrysler 300B, Ford T-bird and Chevy Corvette, and found it was faster to 60 miles per hour as well as through the quarter-mile.
Let's also allow for the inclusion of a couple of Anglo-american hybrids, the Nash-healey and the Allard J2.
Healey produced open-top and coupe versions of the Nash-healey, powered first by a 235 cu. in. (3. 9L) L-head in-line-six from the Ambassador, later by a larger 253 cu. in. (4.1 L) unit. Donald Healey and his son Geoff competed in 1951 in a Nash-healey 3850 Spyder to achieve a credible fourth in class and 30th overall.
They returned the following year in a coupe but crashed during the race, Donald Healey retiring from racing after that. However, another Nash-healey, a Silverstone model, entered by the team of Leslie Johnson and WA Mckenzie, finished a surprising fourth in the top class and seventh overall. A special car sporting a Pinin Farina Spider body was prepared for the 1953 Mille Miglia for the American team of John Fitch and Raymond Willday. Reportedly incredibly fast, the car nonetheless retired with brake failure.
During the 1930s, Englishman Sydney Allard, a budding racer who owned a Ford dealership near London, successfully married a Ford flathead V8 retrieved from a wrecked car with a Bugatti body. Its success in local events caught the attention of fellow competitors, who inquired about Allard building similar “specials.” About a dozen were produced before the Second World War erupted.
After the end of hostilities, Allard returned to this idea, going into business as a constructor, with three models being offered: the J, the K and the L. Of the three, the J, a cigar-shaped open two-seater, was the one designed for competition. After Allard grenaded his J2's Mercury flathead while competing in the 1951 Giro di Sicili, he towed the car back to London and fitted it with a 331 cu. in. Cadillac V8 (160 hp in stock form) for the Mille Miglia.
For something quite different, turn your attention to legendary American hot rodder Ak Miller. In 1953, Miller, a founder of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), decided to enter the Carrera Panamericana in an Oldsmobile-powered Ford Model T-bodied homegrown special named the El Caballo de Hierro (Iron Horse). Competing against some very expensive European machinery in the large sports car class, he and co-driver Doug Harrison finished eighth (14th overall). The following year they finished fifth in class (seventh overall).
When the Carrera was cancelled after the 1955 race, he set his sights on the Mille with a more sophisticated entry. Built for the 1957 race, El Caballo II consisted of a Kurtis Kraft race chassis, an aluminum body and Chrysler Hemi power. Though the sleek sports car made the cover of Hot Rod magazine (April 1957), a solid showing eluded Miller and Harrison, the car retiring early in the race with brake issues.
Should prewar American cars be of interest, there are several that will make the Mille list. In 1928, the second year of the race, a quartet of Chrysler 72s were entered, along with a couple of La Salles, which was an offshoot of the Cadillac brand. The La Salles finished the race in good position — one first in class — as did two of the Chryslers (second and third in class). Chryslers finished first in class in the 1929 and 1930 Mille Miglias.
For the 1931 race, a Graham-paige was entered by the team by the team of Rognoni and Lorenzetti, finishing 33rd.
What has become one of the world's premier vintage racing events is only a bundle of money, a lot of patience and a car away — as long as it's the right car, the organizing body being a stickler for accuracy and originality. Nonetheless, finding a postwar American-built entry that could be eligible is not as hard as, say, locating a 1950 Stanguellini 1100 Sport. Start looking through websites such as Hemmings, Hagerty, or Bring a Trailer. For a lot less than $67,000 for a car, you, too, could find yourself one of the lucky ones participating in a future edition of what has been called “the most beautiful race in the world.”