1914 Minerva Type KK Tourer

Minerva motorcars are often referred to as ‘The finest car to come out of Belgium’, with production starting in 1902, Minerva offered a wide range of two, three and four-cylinder engines in the 36 years that they were operational. In 1908 they took the bold step of gaining the license to adopt the Knight sleeve-valve engine which, although almost silent and fairly trouble-free, was expensive to manufacture and so remains something of a rarity to this day.

This wonderful 1914 Minerva KK 18hp tourer is an important and extremely rare period car of very high quality. It was ordered and imported straight to Portugal by a very wealthy owner of multiple hotels; indeed, it still wears its Lisbon registration plate. It would seem that it only changed ownership a couple of times in eighty years and remained in Portugal for almost all of its life. In the 1990s upon the death of its second owner, a highly respected collector, the family avoided the complicated process of opening a car museum in Portugal, and instead, opened a museum in Malaga, Spain. This car was part of that collection and remained in Spain until it was sold via Sotheby’s in 2014 and came to the UK.

The Minerva is not only extremely elegant with its beautiful proportions, plentiful brass work and boa constrictor horn details, but it is also strong and reliable. A 4-speed gear box gives you the confidence to tackle more challenging terrains; on one of our recent test drives, the car following us reported that we were travelling comfortably at 42mph, and this was by no means the top speed possible.

At some point there has been restoration work to the interior which included very high-quality leatherwork upholstery. This remains in superb condition and the mellow warmth of the beautiful leather adds gentle character to the car.