Business F1 Top 20 Petrolheads: Miles Collier, forever into the future

Miles Collier has earned himself a nickname from those who adore classic cars, which he has wholeheartedly embraced as his own: “The Archaeologist”. His commitment to exploring and unearthing the histories of the vehicles in his extraordinary collection is chronicled in an equally extraordinary book entitled “The Archaeological Automobile: Understanding and Living With Historical Automobiles.” Here, Collier outlines, with facts and examples, the journey every collector should undertake when purchasing and then restoring a car. It's precisely the journey of an archaeologist, an extraordinary man in a very conventional world.

Miles Collier has written the “The Archaeological Automobile” about understanding and living with historical cars.

Miles Collier hails from a wealthy family and has not only preserved his family's wealth but has increased it through his entrepreneurial skills. Yet, his most enduring passion, which he inherited from his paternal grandmother, is his profound love for automobiles. He still owns his first car, a Porsche 356C 1600 SC Coupé with 42,000 miles on the clock, a gift from his parents after his graduation. It is quite possibly the finest 356 in existence, and he speaks of it with palpable enthusiasm: “It smells new. It drives like new. And it's the keeper of many, many experiences we've had together.” Dark blue, a noble colour for a Porsche, it takes pride of place in the Revs Institute in Naples, Florida, which is much more than a car museum, founded by Collier himself.

Miles Collier owns the The Revs Institute, an automotive museum located in Naples, Florida in America. It has been established as a non- profit organisation specialising in automobile history, research and related educational programs.

The Revs Institute is a non-profit organization specializing in automobile history, research, and educational programs. Beyond the cars, it houses what is arguably the world's largest archive of automotive history. As Collier puts it, "Here we cultivate the next generation of enthusiasts with a deep appreciation of automotive history, honouring and caring for them deeply.”

The Revs Institute, in addition to Miles Collier's collection, includes the one he purchased from the racer and builder Briggs Cunningham, which he has preserved exactly as Cunningham had curated and kept it.

The Museum as a whole is home to some of the world’s rarest road and racing cars, while the Institute is focused on the mission of raising awareness about automotive heritage. To use Collier's words, “to present cars in a way that maximizes their documentary value, preservation and longevity, while advocating their utility to the world as an archaeological artifact.”

Most of the cars in the Revs Institute are in absolutely original conditions. Pictured here Dan Gurney's Indianapolis Eagle.

Among the highlights of the collection is the Porsche 917 that won Le Mans in 1971, displayed in its original condition as if it had just finished the race. All the cars in the collection are fully functional and participate in historical races and major Concours d’Elegance events. Additionally, the museum houses one of the largest specialized automotive libraries in the world, and a 12,000 square metre workshop dedicated to the restoration of cars and pioneering new preservation techniques.

The stunning Porsche 917 which Helmut Marko won Le Mans in 1971 with co-driver Gijs van Lennep, just as it won the race.

The Collier family's connection to automobiles began with Collier's grandmother, Juliet Carnes Collier, who was an amateur racing driver in the 1930s and competed in significant races across Europe. This racing spirit spread throughout the family: Collier's father, Miles, and his uncle Sam were instrumental in formalizing motorsport in the USA. The Colliers founded the Automobile Racing Club of America in 1933, which was renamed the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) in 1944. Their journey was marked by tragedy when Sam Collier was killed while competing in the 1950 Watkins Glen Grand Prix. Yet, this did not deter the Colliers from their automotive pursuits. They later contributed to the construction of a proper racetrack at Watkins Glen to replace the dangerous public roads, which opened in 1956.

Young Miles thus embraced the legacy, transforming his passion for racing into a broader cultural celebration of the automobile, a machine that revolutionized the world.

The Institute will be his legacy. It is independently funded in perpetuity. The cars will never be sold and will always be preserved, along with the unparalleled heritage of historical documentation of automotive brands, models, competitive racing, and a century's worth of technological evolution.

Miles and Sam Collier at Le Mans in 1950