The Minerva was probably the finest car to come out of Belgium, and certainly they made high quality cars for longer than any other firm, attracting custom from King Albert of Belgium in1910 and by 1914 the Kings of Norway and Sweden.

Henry Ford and Andre Citroen were also clients.

Founded by Dutchman and journalist Sylvain de Jong, he started making cycles and from 1899 motor tricycles, motorcycles and cars.

David Citroen joined the board from 1903, Minerva soon becoming known for its luxury cars, taking out a licence in 1908 for the Knight sleeve valve engine in the interests of silent running, the entire range powered by Knight engines by 1910.

In their day, Minervas were much rallied, enjoying an outstanding reputation in competition of all sorts.

Listed and photographed in Kupelian’s ‘Minerva’ for the 1910 season, the Type ‘S’ had the 26hp four-cylinder twin-bloc engine of 4,084cc, measuring 102x125mm, the earlier 85x110mm 2496cc ‘single block’ 15hp engine allocated to the Ty...