A TASTE OF THE SPECIAL BREW.(Escape Roads)

Byline: LEIGH DORRINGTON

David Uihlein was born with more than a silver spoon in his mouth. His grandfather, Joseph Schlitz, brewed "the beer that made Milwaukee famous.''

Throughout his long and productive life, Uihlein, now 86, has been an automotive enthusiast. He is one of the founders of the Harry A. Miller Club, which celebrates the automotive genius of his fellow Wisconsin native each year with the Millers at Milwaukee meet for vintage Indy cars at the Milwaukee Mile. Uihlein owns several of Miller's masterpieces, which won the Indianapolis 500 12 times in 17 years between 1922 and 1938 and spawned the immortal Offenhauser engine.

More than 50 years ago, however, Uihlein had his own idea for a dominating race car. The September 1953 issue of Speed Age magazine provided an exclusive look at "Uihlein's 130 mph MG.'' The article, by Vic Roberts, described "a serious threat to foreign domination of the 1.5-liter class.''

The David V. Uihlein Special was based on a stock MG TD. The product of Milwaukee-area craftsmen and a seemingly unlimited budget, the DVU reflected the leading performance thinking of the time. Designers E.J. Healy and Weikko Leppanen created a bespoke hemispherical head with dual overhead camshafts. The head and cam housings were cast of nickel-alloy steel. In a highly unusual arrangement, the stock camshaft was left in the block to drive the oil pump and distributor. The stock bore and stroke of 2.62 and 3.54 inches were retained for a displacement of 1250 cc. This, as Roberts said, was in order to measure performance increases from the head compared with a stock MG. Two SU carburetors fed into the left side of the dohc head. Spark plugs were located in the center of the two camshafts.

Carl and Tudy Marchese of Milwaukee undertook construction of the engine and chassis. Although an Indy roadster-type chassis was considered for the DVU Special, the team retained the MG TD frame and again cited the ...