Car added to 'Speed' exhibit at UMFA

SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah has added the 1950 Eddie Miller Jr. Lakester to the exhibition "Speed: The Art of the Performance Automobile," on view through Sept. 16.

The Lakester has replaced the 1935 Duesenberg SJ "Mormon Meteor I" as the "Meteor" is being prepared for the Glenmoor Gathering of Significant Automobiles event this fall.

The award-winning Lakester's design was originally sketched by Eddie Miller Sr. in the mid-1930s as a challenge to Ab Jenkins' "Mormon Meteor I" racer. While Miller never built the car, his dream was realized by his son Eddie Miller Jr. in 1950. A gifted mechanic, Miller Jr. spent three years creating the bronze Lakester from various recycled car parts. He handmade a tubular steel chassis, drilled it for lightness, and wrapped it in a sleek aluminum body of his own design.

"Speed" features 19 of the world's fastest and finest automobiles. Tickets are sold in time slots, and are $18 for adults, $13 for youth (ages 14-17) and seniors (ages 65+), $3 for children (ages 3-13), and free for infants (0-2). Museum hours are Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; weekends, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The museum, 410 Campus Center Drive, is closed Mondays and holidays.