1929 Miller Schofield Special

In 1928 when the Ford Model A came on the market and shortly before he sold his racing car and engine business to Schofield Inc. of America, Harry A. Miller conceived a cylinder head. The Miller-Schofield overhead conversion was actually designed by Leo Goosen for Harry Miller and was funded by several businessmen led by George L. Schofield.

The design was similar to the Two-Port Riley and the Rutherford, with forged steel rocker arms to actuate the valves. With the conversion in place and depending on the setup, the original horsepower was more than doubled. The original compression ratio was 5.75:1, but with better fuel, that figure could be increased to 8:1.

In December of 1930, Schofield failed when a director, Gilbert Beesemyer, admitted to embezzling more than $8 million from the Guarantee Building & Loan Company he was apart of in Los Angeles. Most of the designed and equipment were purchased at Schofield's bankruptcy sale by Harlan Fengler (the Indianapolis driver (1923-1924) and later racing official). He continued the production of the Miller-Schofield equipment under the name Cragar. The original Miller-Schofield heads were produced for just a short period of time, lasting between January and December of 1930, when Schofield declared bankruptcy.

Model A production lasted from 1928 to 1931.

by Daniel Vaughan | May 2014