Minerva Type KK Tourer 

Further information:​

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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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.