Alexander Kennedy 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.

Youth and education Miller was the only child of a wealthy New York City stockbroker and wholesale merchant. He purchased his first Stutz automobile while still in high school. He soon purchased more Stutz cars from bankruptcy auctions and a number of autogyros from the military for a small fraction of their actual value.

Marriage and middle age In 1941, Miller married Imogene Raymond (1917–1996), the daughter of William Everett Raymond and Maria Louise Cook. 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.

Miller often drove considerable distances for good deals on auto or airplane parts. According to car aficionado Roderick C. Rice, Miller told him a story about driving a 1917 Stutz Bulldog (the first car Miller owned) to St. Louis to pick up an airplane wing. "A. K. said he brought it back, driving with the canvas roof down and the wing replacing it, strapped to two-by-fours attached fore and aft."

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 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 best-known collections of Stutz motorcars.