Ford small-block V-8 engine, custom tubular dropped front axle with semi-elliptic transverse leaf spring, live rear axle, and rear-only hydraulic drum brakes. Wheelbase: 90"

• The 1968 Detroit Autorama Ridler Award winner

• A Chuck Miller creation and the stable-mate of the famed “Red Baron”

• Profiled in books chronicling the wild “show rod” era of the 1960s/1970s

Chuck Miller’s Detroit-based Styline Customs built award-winning customs and show cars for American Motors, Hurst Performance, Dodge and Plymouth. One of his major successes came at the 1968 Detroit Autorama, where he won the coveted Ridler Award with this whimsical C-Cab Fire Truck, which was named one of the “Top 10 Rods” in the country that year by Car Craft magazine. The following year, Miller received critical acclaim with a car built to match the success of a Monogram model kit, the Tom Daniel-designed “Red Baron.”

In his book The American Custom Car, noted authority Pat Ganahl wrote a chapter entitled “Silly Show Cars.” These included Steve Scott’s “Uncertain T,” Dan Woods’ “Milk Truck,” Ed Roth’s “Druid Princess” and both Chuck Miller’s “C-Cab Fire Truck” and “Red Baron.” Major show promoters of the era, like Bob Larivee, the head of Group Productions, Inc., paid handsome appearance fees for these unusual cars, and they provided their creators with a great deal of publicity.

The C-Cab Fire Truck played off several popular elements from the era, including every young man’s enthusiasm for fire equipment, the booming T-bucket craze and the enduring popularity of the early “C-Cab” Model T trucks. Combining these themes, Miller built a delightful rendition with a single-monocle windscreen, tiller steering, a small-block Ford V-8 engine with a non-functioning “dummy” blower, competition-themed American mag wheels, drilled ladder bars and “pie crust” drag slicks.

Other stylistic elements include abbreviated wooden ladders, gold leaf side lettering, rear-only brakes, drum headlights, vintage Model T taillights, a winged Moto-Meter radiator cap and a roof rack. Not intended for street use, the Fire Truck was designed and built with just one purpose: to win custom-car shows. The purchaser of this original creation can lay claim to owning an actual Ridler Award winner for far less than the cost of building one today.