How the mighty are fallen: the tragic battle of Minerva and Thor

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We think we recognise a dramatic photograph when we see one, and this one almost brought us to tears. It was shot in the Netherlands and is dated 1936. The caption just reads, “A man busy demolishing a car in a field,” so we are free to fill in the gaps. There are quite a few.

Let’s start with the car. We understand this to be a Belgian Minerva. Named after the Roman goddess of wisdom, the car is sometimes referred to as the Goddess of Automobiles. Well, they were lovely cars with a reputation for excellence. The company itself would sell its vehicles as "The Car of Kings and Queens," while none other than Charles Rolls operated as a Minerva importer for England before he founded his own marque. Alas, it couldn’t last forever, and after the prosperous 1910s and 1920s, Minerva Motors fell into difficulties in the 1930s, with the Great Depression and all that. By 1937, the company had merged with another famous name from Belgium: Impéria. While Impéria lasted a little longer, the Minerva name soon faded away.

By the time this picture was taken in 1936, there wasn’t much left of the once-proud Belgian manufacturer. As there wasn’t much left of this particular car, either, which seems to have been cannibalised for whatever useful parts it could yield. The body won’t have lasted for long after the picture was taken, with the Netherlands' own Thor about to strike it with his thundering hammer. Who can tell us more about the vehicle from what we see of it? It was perhaps 10 or 12 years old in 1936, we think, which doesn’t seem very old for a car known for its superior build quality. It could be an OO-, WW- or ZZ-type Tourer or Torpedo, since we found pictures of these models, which look rather similar. Or maybe it's a later A-type? Who knows?

By the way, at the moment there’s a 1923 tourer project for sale, which seems to have escaped the man with the hammer, plus a pretty 1926 town car.

Words: Jeroen Booij
Picture: Fotocollectie Elsevier

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