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Dave, thanks for turning my succession of radiator grill pics into a readable story.
But the Hudson? Wikipedia says: "Hudson dealers began taking orders on September 23, 1953, but the response was lukewarm with only 18 or 19 firm orders ... Most of the Italias were sold to the eccentric customers in Southern California"

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"1937" and "Zone: Thirties" says the plate. 1937? It can't be true. I think this nice looking Packard left Detroit in the second half of the 1920s. And what means "FWD"? Front-wheel drive, forward-wheel drive, four-wheel drive? No, there seems to be something wrong.
The car got dusty but under the dust layer the new and solid leather is clearly recognizable. Take note to the curved windows of the splitted partition.

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Gusha, looks like you've got a bit of a job ahead of you educating the Belgians.

Hi Guscha

I second Owen's idea, how about volunteering to help the museum correct the Packard information signs so visitors will get the right information and correct impression of what Packards were all about in their era.

Steve

Dave, thanks for letting me look through your eyes to understand the products of this great American company. For several years I enjoy the friendly support from you, Howard, Randy, Brian, Dave (JD), Dave (clipper47), John, Kevin, Mal, Ross, Keith, Flacky and many others. Without you, I would see a blue car on four black tyres, built 1937, FWD.
Steve, after interchanging our knowledge* and ideas on US cars for a couple of times you should meanwhile know that instead of correcting the information signs, the local sale of fish sandwiches could be in good hands with me.
And with that, back to the cars.


*BTW Dave & Steve, I'll return to the eye-opening subject of the 1935 Chrysler Wimbledon and its potential relation to the ZIS-101 as soon as credible documents are detectable.

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Hi Guscha

I'd bet you know Packards better than you think you do! Anyway, you wouldn't be alone in correcting their information signs, everyone here would gladly support your efforts, edit any mistakes before they were presented to the museum officials. Bets they would be delighted to have accurate information available to visitors.

The turquoise and black Packard is a 1929 Model 640 Custom Eight, Body Style No. 345, Sedan-Limousine, seven passengers, factory price $5,985.

Standing by for that '35 Chrysler Airstream/ZIS-101 report!

Steve

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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Many thanks for posting the Minerva pictures. The engine, at least astheticaly, is a work of art by any standard. I've never seen one before.

Re: pic of radiator cap:
Is there some model or year of minerva that used a different radiator cap? A cap with a womans head that has baby snakes all coiled upon her head?? Or maybe i'm confusing cars with Greek goddeses.

Kaiser is the German word for emperor.
Kaiser Wilhelm is the German emperor Wilhelm in the early 20th century. He happened to be the last emperor of Germany. looks like this Minerva was owned by emperor Wilhelm.
There's a huge statue of him in Koblenz Germany on the place where the rivers the Rhine & Mosel get together.
My phone won't let me post a picture of it so here's the link:
koblenz-touristik.de/fileadmin/Mediendat ... Kaiser_Wilhelm_Deu._Eck_Koblenz.jpg

Is there some model or year of minerva that used a different radiator cap?

There were a few variants of that cap over Minerva's years but all similar to the best of my knowledge (which is pretty limited when it comes to Minervas). But just like in the American marketplace there were many makers of aftermarket radiator caps in all kinds of styles (for example the Lalique glass ones) and some were more than happy to make a one-off, perhaps one of the most famous was Rudolph Valentino's coiled cobra on his Voisin or perhaps Isotta (he was a huge fan of the Isotta Praschini), knock-off replicas of this one are occasionally seen - the Dragonne collection up in CT have one, perhaps even a genuine one? I've got a photo of it somewhere, perhaps I can find it.

A bit more on Valentino and his cars, and Minervas (about 10 are pictured) can be found in wonderful "The Classic Era" by Beverly Rae Kimes, published by the CCCA in 2001. If you're a fan of the Classic era and don't have this book, you're really missing out.