Power About Minerva
The Minerva was a prominent Belgian luxury automobile manufactured from 1902 until 1938.
In 1883, a young Dutchman, Sylvain de Jong settled in Antwerp, Belgium. He started a bicycle factory and by the end of the century was producing motorcycles. In 1902 he added cars to his production as well with a 6hp 4 cylinder model. In 1903 he founded Société Anonyme Minerva Motors in Berchem (Antwerp). Volume car production began in 1904 with a range of two, three and four cylinder models with chain drive and metal clad wooden chassis and the Minervette cyclecar. The 8 litre Kaiserpreis won the Belgian Circuit des Ardennes race in 1907.
A certain Charles S Rolls was a Minerva dealer in England selling the 2.9 litre 14hp. The most important market for the manufacturer remained England, where at GBP105 the small 636 cc single cylinder Minervette was the cheapest car on the market, followed by the Netherlands and France.
In 1908, Minerva obtained a worldwide Knight Engine license. The Knight motor developed by Charles Yale Knight in the United States used double sleeve valves and ran almost silently. All future Minervas would use these engines. Sporting successes continued with the new engines including the Austrian Alpine Trials and Swedish Winter Trials. Customers for the Minerva would include kings of Belgium, Sweden and Norway and Henry Ford.
