The 1901 Ford Sweepstakes project is an ideal assignment for Glenn Miller, who has been an old-car aficionado for most of his life. He took charge of the overall program to restore the original car and to build the two working replicas from January 2001.

Glenn says he came by his interest in antique autos from his father, who "played with" cars from the 1930s, '40s and '50s. From that influence, Glenn developed a love for very old cars, and now has a collection of early automobiles, including a 1901 Geneva steam car.

"I was especially interested in early race cars," Miller says, "but I could never afford them. So this assignment has been like a dream come true."

Miller's avocation has helped the Sweepstakes project in several ways. From his experience with his own collection, he knows the suppliers where various components can be made. Miller also has a shop at his home that's well equipped for working on antique cars, and in this shop Miller built the two wooden bodies for the Sweepstakes replicas. In addition, over the years he has developed a well-tuned knowledge of what's right and what is not on very early automobiles. That knowledge was particularly valuable when it came to verifying that the car in the Henry Ford Museum in Detroit was indeed the original Sweepstakes.

Miller joined Ford Special Vehicle Engineering in Detroit about three-years-ago and, with the completion of the Sweepstakes restoration, now works in the Ford GT program. Before that he worked at the Small Car Vehicle Center as a chassis development engineer, on such projects as the Escort ZX2 and the Focus.

He is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University, and started at Ford Motor Company in 1976 as a technician in the NVH Lab.