There he has a few of his GTs, including one that won the Daytona FIA 24-hour in 1966 and lost later that year in a photo finish at LeMans.

It's the Cobras, though, that mean the most to Miller.

Also at the Shelby American Collection is the '64 Daytona Coupe Cobra worth $6.5 million — CSX2299. It is a more aerodynamic version of the 289, an answer — according to its collection biography — to Ferrari's sleek 250 GTO. Just the second Cobra coupe built, it has the best racing history of the six, including a GT win at the 1964 24 Hours of LeMans with Gurney and Bob Bondurant driving.

"It just absolutely stops my heart every time I see that car," Miller said.

In 1965, with Bondurant in the seat most of the summer in Europe, 2299 also was one of the Daytona Coupes that pushed Cobra to its manufacturer's world title.

"The world championships . . . were so dominated in the '50s and '60s by Ferrari," Miller said, beaming as if he had driven one of the Cobras himself back in '65. "No one could ever beat Ferrari. Well, they did."

Framed pictures of his cars, three of which he keeps at home, are strewn about a conference room adjacent to Miller's Sandy office.

Of course no Cobra photograph may be more famous than the hot rod appearing on the cover of the album by The Rip Chords featuring their 1964 million-seller hit song "Hey Little Cobra."

All together now: "Spring little Cobra gettin' ready to strike. Spring little Cobra with all of your might. Hey Little Cobra, don't you know you're gonna shut 'em down? When the flag went down, you could hear rubber burn. The Stingray had me going into the turn. I hung a big shift, and I got into high. And when I flew by the Stingray, I waved bye-bye."

Miller owns the Cobra on the album cover, No. 15 on its side.

He looks at a shot of CSX3032, a blue big block that won five times at Daytona. He brags on little ol' CSX2175, his first, that little red one driven back from California. Suffice it to say it's worth well more than Miller's $13,500 investment. Then there's 3202. It's also blue, also a big block — the serial numbers of all the big blocks start with a 3 — and it's parked in Miller's garage. So is a red 427, one Miller said is "a lot more race car than it is a street car" — though he does drive it, once a week or so when it's warm enough, in the canyons.

"When I first got it, I didn't like it," Miller said of the 427. "I said to Gail, 'This car's too much to handle. It's lurching and bucking and snorting.' But I got it sorted out, and learned how to drive it, and now it's easy for me to drive.

"But the cars, by the way, have much more capability as cars than I do as a driver. Much more."