1926 Minerva Type AF

FROM THE DICK SHAPPY COLLECTION: The 1926 Minerva AF Town Car by Ostruk

THE MINERVA:

The Société Anonyme Minerva Motors was founded in 1897 in Antwerp, Belgium to manufacturer bicycles, though they quickly shifted to the production of motorcycles and automobiles by 1900. Named after the Roman goddess of wisdom, commerce, crafts, medicine, and even poetry, the Minerva, produced from 1904 to 1933, became one of the finest and most expensive automobiles in the world. They were known for their impressive size, custom coachwork, silent Charles Yale Knight sleeve-valve engines, and smooth cantilevered rear leaf-spring suspension. The complex designed, adopted in 1908, used mechanically actuated pistons that opened and closed valve ports in the top of the cylinder head. They became popular in the United Kingdom by 1903, spreading throughout the elite of Europe, and then amongst royalty even to the Kings of Belgium, Norway, and Sweden. By the 1920s, they had established themselves in the US luxury niche, the choice of film stars, politicians, and industrialists.

Its no surprise that they became the largest vehicle manufacturer in Belgium. In 1926, they introduced the AF model, their highest-powered offering of the year which adopted Dewandre servo-assisted brakes. In 1927, they merged with Fabrique Nationale, and returned to stability quickly after German occupation, but the Great Depression of the 1930s crippled thier business. They merged with Imperia in 1934, but the last Minerva was produced in 1935. The company would go on to produce Land Rovers for the Belgian Army until 1956 when the partnership was dissolved and Minerva closed its doors.


Minerva: 1926 AF Town Car by Ostruk

This 1926 Minerva AF Town Car was a rare American delivery of the regal Belgian Classic with impressive American Coachwork by Ostruk. Its a carefully-maintained and attractive older restoration, retaining much of its originality. In good running order, it even emits little smoke, something common to a sleeve-valve Minerva, making it ideal for local concours, a Classic Car Club of America (CCCA) Full Classic.


THE CAR:

CUSTOM COACHWORK: Designed by Paul Ostruk, Inc.

COACHBUILDING PLATE: Custom Coach Work Especialy Designed by Paul Ostruk Co. Inc., New York, USA

CHASSIS NO.: 56543

ENGINE NO.: 56544 AI

ENGINE: 5,952 CC Sleeve-Valve Inline 6-Cylinder

CARBURETOR: Zenith Dual Barrel

BRAKES: Mechanically Actuated 4-Wheel Finned Drum Brakes with Dewandre Vacuum Servo Assist and Internally Expanding Shoes at each Corner. Handbrake for Independent Set of Shoes at Rear Wheels.

BRAKE HP: 70 BHP @ 2,800 RPM

TRANSMISSION: 4-Speed Manual, Central Floor Shifter

SUSPENSION: Solid Axles, Lever-Arm Front Shock Absorbers, Semi-Elliptical Front Leaf Springs, & Cantilever Rear Springs

MILEAGE: Believed to have only cover 20,000 miles from new as displayed in the odometer.

BORE & STROKE: 95 x 140

IGNITION: Scintilla Magneto

PAINT: Two-Tone Gray

WHEELS: Black-Painted Wire with Bright Minerva Lock Rings

TIRES: 7.00-21 Lester Wide-Whitewall, Dual Side-Mount Spares

HORN: Bulb-Operated Sethos Spiral Horn

UPHOLSTERY: Black Leather Chauffeurs Seat Trim, Mottled Gray Cloth Passenger Compartment & Occasional Seating (Stowed behind Marquetry Panels), Black Fabric Roof Covering, Gray Carpeting

FEATURES: Wood Cowl Hosting a Roll-Up Glass Partition, Fold-Out Jump Seats, Fold-Down Rear Luggage Rack, Polished Aluminum Dashboard, Hammered Door Handles & Trim Pieces, Wooden Cappings, Four Rear-Hinged Doors, Ancillary Gauges, Driving Lights, Cowl Lamps, Minerva Radiator Mascot, Split Upper Windshield Vents, Driver-Side Mirror, Wood Door Panel & Window Framing, Roll-Up Door & Rear Side Windows, Wood Vanities, and a Footrest Bar

MOTOMETER: Boyce Model H Dash Gauge

CLOCK: 8-Hour Jaeger Paris Dash Clock Made in Switzerland

SPEEDOMETER/ODOMETER: Jaeger 97 MPH Paris Made in Switzerland

TAG: Minerva Motors Anvers Chassis No. 56543, Type: AF, Moteur No: 56544, 95 x 140, 6 Cyl

TAG: Manufactured Under License from Knight and Kilbdurne Patents Company by Minerva Motors Societe Anonyme, Antwerp, Belgium

DOCUMENTATION: Registration, US Title


THE HISTORY:

Noted Minerva collector and historian Jacques Vander Stappen purchased the AF from Seymour Rappaport of Teaneck, New Jersey in May 1988, as detailed in the extensive file of correspondence with the car. In Mr. Vander Stappens ownership the car was cherished and displayed in his private museum for over 30 years. On its sale, Mr. Rappaport wrote to its buyer stating, The car has 17,000 original miles, was driven only by a chauffeur (sic) for the first year and thereafter only by me. He did not record whom the chauffers master was, but it was likely one of Ostruks typical high-brow clients, who perhaps laid it up after that modest mileage and moved on to another upper crust automobile.

Mr. Rappaports tenure would seem to have begun in the 1970s, as an old title document lists him as its keeper already by 1973 and photos depict him retrieving it from a garage where it may well have slumbered for more than 40 years. Notes on file detail minor water damage from the leaking garage roof to one rear quarter panel as the only more major aspect that required his attention when he restored it. In the rebuild the cars two tone grey livery that the car had been found in was replicated returning it to its former glory of the Roaring Twenties.

The original owner is believed to have been Philip P.J. Rappoport, a New Jersey textile manufacturer and father of Seymour. It is said to have been delivered new in the United States and then sent to the talented Paul Ostruk Company of New York for coachwork before arriving at its new home in New Jersey.


THE COACHWORK:

Paul Ostruk was a Czech emigrant who arrived in the United States in 1908. He took a position working for the coachbuilder A.T. Demarest where he teamed up with Emerson Brooks, a respected designer for J.M. Quinby & Co. and the Treasurer of the Automobile Club of America. Brooks was able to use his elite connections to offer the elite coachwork of Ostruk to the wealthy. The Brooks-Ostruk Company began by taking Pierce-Arrow or Packard frames and giving them a more European body and their cars sold at a premium at the New York Auto Salons. Ostruk began acquiring Minera chassis for favorable terms and clothing it in coachwork, establishing a foothold for Minerva in the US as a prestigious selection. In 1923, Ostruk struck out on his own, establishing Paul Ostruk & Co. New York. He would go on to engage with some of the premier coachbuilders of the US, including Locke & Co., Raymond Dietrich, and Tom Hibbards LeBaron plant.

According to RM Sothebys, Like many of the Ostruk Minervas, the car was fitted with custom coachwork produced under his name, first by Locke and later by LeBaron, the renowned coachbuilder established by design legends Raymond Dietrich and Howard Dutch Darrin. It is believed that this body is a Locke creation, given its resemblance to the coachwork they fashioned for Lincolns and other fine chassis. Ostruk would continue building until the Great Depression disrupted the imported automobile business, and he closed his door sin 1932, leaving this well-preserved 1926 Minerva AF Town Car a surviving piece of his elegant history.