Re: Autoworld Brussel Belgium
Posted by Owen_Dyneto On 2015/2/25 9:35:11
Gusha, I hope you enjoyed Brussels, I spent a lot of time there in years past - first visit was for 6 or 7 weeks back in the mid-60s, and many shorter visits thereafter. My short characterization was "eat like the French, drink like the Germans", I always considered it a wonderful city and the best in the world for beer drinkers. I always stayed at the Hotel Amigo (site of a former Spanish prison) just off the Grand Place, near the Mannekin Pis! - do you know it? I see it's still rated among the best 100 hotels in Europe by some critics. Somewhere between the outer ring and the Central Station I often passed what had been a Studebaker-Packard dealer with a large painted sign on the side of the building - wish I would have taken a picture!
Did the exhibit feature a Minerva? How could they not, they were of course made in Belgium, in the price range and quality of Rolls, Hispano, Maybach, Isotta, and the like and featured a Knight-patent sleeve valve engine - the largest Minerva's used a in-line 8 sleeve valve. Minervas were never made in much quantity and fairly uncommon in US though I know of 3 in a collection here in NJ. The last 2 pictures are of a very original Minerva 8 cylinder with a Weymann-patent fabric body by D'Ietereren Freres of Belgium - D'Ieteren Freres still survives in Europe though not as a coachbuilder. Also of interest is that they assembled VWs and Studebakers from CKD kits in the 50s and also assembled 1 or 2 V8 Packards. I believe the Rollston-bodied car shown just recently changed hands - quite the stunning car with an exceptional restoration. The caption on the 1st photo doesn't mean the Kaiser was in the US in 1954 (he was well under the grass by then), just that the car was. I've lost track of it but assume it still survives. There are but 9 Minervas listed in the current CCCA Directory, all but one 6-cylinder models.
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Did the exhibit feature a Minerva? How could they not, they were of course made in Belgium, in the price range and quality of Rolls, Hispano, Maybach, Isotta, and the like and featured a Knight-patent sleeve valve engine - the largest Minerva's used a in-line 8 sleeve valve. Minervas were never made in much quantity and fairly uncommon in US though I know of 3 in a collection here in NJ. The last 2 pictures are of a very original Minerva 8 cylinder with a Weymann-patent fabric body by D'Ietereren Freres of Belgium - D'Ieteren Freres still survives in Europe though not as a coachbuilder. Also of interest is that they assembled VWs and Studebakers from CKD kits in the 50s and also assembled 1 or 2 V8 Packards. I believe the Rollston-bodied car shown just recently changed hands - quite the stunning car with an exceptional restoration. The caption on the 1st photo doesn't mean the Kaiser was in the US in 1954 (he was well under the grass by then), just that the car was. I've lost track of it but assume it still survives. There are but 9 Minervas listed in the current CCCA Directory, all but one 6-cylinder models.
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