YPSILANTI, MI – For decades, if you had a question about cars or auto parts in Ypsilanti, the answer could be found at the corner of East Cross Street in Depot Town.
Whether it was a part for an old Hudson or just general information about an “orphan” car that was no longer produced, Jack Miller could recite what it was you were looking for with a photographic memory.
“Once in a while we would be sitting in his office chatting away and he’d get a phone call from somewhere out in the western states from a guy asking about a part for a Hudson,” longtime friend Dave Novak said. “He would say, ‘This is what you need’ and rattle off a part number, not even looking at a catalogue or anything. This happened virtually every day I was in the office with him.”
Miller, whose knowledge and love of automobile history earned him the nickname “Mr. Hudson” in the Ypsilanti community and beyond, died Monday, Dec. 28 at Superior Woods Nursing Home. He was 81.
Miller grew up working in his father’s Hudson Sales and Service franchise that opened in 1927 – the world’s oldest operating Hudson dealership – until the Hudson line was discontinued in 1958.
The dealership was renamed Miller Motor Sales, where Miller would provide service and parts to Hudson collectors across America for decades to come after his father’s passing in 1973.
“It was a place to go for car people,” said Ron Bluhm, president of the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum. “They would all come in and he would give them advice and they would give him advice. It was kind of like the general store and checkboard and it still is that way today.”
Miller Motor Sales eventually was purchased by Skip Ungrodt and Peter Fletcher in 1995, but the building’s mission of celebrating classic cars continued as the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum.
Miller was hired as the museum’s curator, converting the business into an archive for Miller Motor Sales with advertising, service, repair and promotional items available for auto enthusiasts and researchers.
Among the cars featured in the museum is Miller’s pride and joy, a duplicate of former NASCAR driver Herb Thomas’ Fabulous Hudson Hornet that he finished restoring in 1998. Miller would spend nearly three decades researching and writing about the Hudson Hornet in his book “Total Domination,” which was published in 2009.
“All kinds of people would come in and look at the kind of cars he had and say, ‘You should start charging at the door and make it a museum,’” Miller’s niece Sally Richie said. “That’s what ended up happening.”
Miller’s knowledge of cars in the community went beyond the East Cross Street business and museum, bringing rare automobiles that are no longer made like the Hudson, Tucker, Studebaker, Chevrolet Corvair and Kaiser-Frazer from across the country to Ypsilanti.
In 1997, Miller and Randy Mason started the Orphan Car Show, which still takes place annually in Riverside Park.
“There are a lot of them that are really rare,” Richie said of the cars in the annual Orphan Car Show. “It brings all of these cars you wouldn’t normally see at a car show to one spot.”
Longtime friend and Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum board member Mickey Ichesco said Miller’s reputation as an automobile expert was known throughout the country, from “titans of the industry” to “plain old car workers.”
While family and friends said Miller could have a “grumpy” disposition, his passion for cars and the Ypsilanti community was never doubted by those who knew him well.
“He could be a grumpy old guy sometimes if he didn’t like you, and other times, you were like a long-lost brother,” Ichesco said.
“Jack could talk to you at just about any level you were at. He was never a pretentious person – he never tried to bull**** you. If you did that to him, he could cut you right off, because he knew exactly what he was talking about and everything he would tell you was very accurate.”
While health issues caused Miller retired as curator of the museum in 2013. his expertise continued to be sought out by people in the auto community, Ichesco said.
“Even when he was in the nursing home, people would call him asking for advice,” he said. “I was up there one day and somebody called him asking about how to adjust a carburetor on a Hudson. He told them how to put clutch oil in one of them. Even right up to almost the very end, everybody was calling Jack for help or information or where to find stuff.”
Due to COVID-19, a private graveside service for Miller will be held at Highland Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum in memory of Miller.
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