Majestic Minerva returns to Belgium after 85 years

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Until as late as 1939, Belgium had a car manufacturer which stood head and shoulders above most others, on a level with the likes of Rolls-Royce, Hispano-Suiza and Isotta Fraschini. That marque was Minerva, which started in Antwerp in 1900 and soon progressed from basic voiturettes to building large, powerful and luxurious machines. Come the 1930s, its flagship was a magnificent 6.6-litre straight-eight which embodied all the glamour of the Art Déco age, but such expensive vehicles could not be relied upon in the wake of the depression and so a four-litre eight was introduced alongside it to help sales.

We are looking here at a 1937/38 Minerva Type F or M8, a prime example of one of the great four-litre sleeve-valve models, Type F being the factory name for the model and M8 likely being the designation for the British Minerva agency to which it was originally despatched. As one of the last Minerva passenger cars made, it would have been a real rarity even when new; after 1935, the firm built very few cars under its own name as it had recently taken over Imperia and was pursuing a very different route with the smaller and mildly unorthodox Minerva-Imperias.

Chassis 87192 is certainly one of the very last cars to leave the works with Minerva's own seven-seat limousine coachwork, and it's believed to be one of a pair of Minervas built for exhibition at the 1937 Earl's Court Motor Show. Certainly, it was first registered in London on 20th June, 1938. Unfortunately, its early history is not yet fully documented, but its life has been very well-recorded from 1959, when it was sold through Halfway Garages, the well-known dealership for high-end pre-war cars in Padworth, near Reading, to a Mr. Hadfield of Salisbury having been off the road since 1953.

Then registered EYT 414, it was then sold to T. I. A. MacDougall of Shandon and was bought in 1967 by Bruce Smith of Glasgow, who took it off the road to overhaul it in 1969. Smith never completed the work, however, and he sold it in the 1990s to the noted collector Jacques Vander Stappen, who treated it to a much-needed restoration, changing the colour to a dignified black.

Bought in 2018 by a Latvian enthusiast and sympathetically recommissioned, it has lately been enjoyed just as it ought to be, with a few thousand miles covered at local events. Now, it's set to return to its native country as one of the star exhibits at Prewar Days in Kortrijk on 1st to 3rd December. After 85 years, it ought to be a very special homecoming for a very special car. With so many beautiful details, from the stylised Minerva mascot to the Art Déco woodwork of the sumptuous interior, the photographs can only do it so much justice - if you have the chance, the best thing would be to go to Prewar Days and see it in person.

Words: Zack Stiling
 

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