Feel free to input on Minerva…
Picture of the still existing Minerva CM3 in South of France. Perhaps one recognizes this Minerva,
and it was active during the promotion of Hougaerdse DAS beer and exposed in Hemiksem during
the Minerva Jubilee. Also in the tv-series “maitres d’orges, family of brewers named Steinfort” in
the nineties.
@Eric: that is what we call sheeting and roping! Good load!
@Robert: one out of five still existing Minerva’s! In Autoworld
two fire-trucks are exposed, the one you inputted is from
Schaerbeek, the nothern part of Brussels, where Denonville
and CDB were located.
Wow, I expect this series of “Belgian marques” will be very
interesting and thorough!
As mentioned earlier herewith a picture of the Minerva CM3 of 1932 in promotional livery for
brewery Hougaerdse DAS. It still has the tipper-system of Ets. P. Hyde of Merksem (Antwerp)
and during operational life it worked for a quarry (Lambaux) in Leuven. The tipper-body was
made by F. Joos from Leuven. Load-capacity was 15.000kgs and vehicle-weight was 3.000kgs.
robert1952:
Minerva fire-engine. Robert0
The two fire-engines in Autoworld (Jubelpark) Brussels have a bus-chassis
called HTM (Haagsche Tramweg Maatschappij) as HTM was a good as well
as loyal customer of Holland for busses. Also several vehicles for movers
had that chassis because of low height of chassis and overall length. Not
one bus survived…unfortunately. Minerva-engines were based on the
Knight-engines. Several operator’s replaced the Minerva-engine for example
with Deutz-engines, then represented by Vansweevelt.
Van Steenbergen of Arendonk (Belgium) had five Minerva’s in their mixed fleet and herewith some pictures.
hey ERF, yes roping and sheeting days but with cables instead of ropes, easy to put them on if they were
coiled after a while of using, and hook plates which felt on your head if the cables get stuck. 
On that pic if you look to the new numberplate launched in the begining of the '50’s , it must have been
driven for a long time after war. Think big lorries weren’t built after WWII.
Here a couples with old plates. Could it be that they had a Perkins in them after rebuilt■■?
Because an old mate ( a native of Antwerp) told me years ago that Minerva diesels were a real disaster.
Good in the '20’s but soon layed of because of the Knight system.
Bye Eric,
Eric…correct me when I am wrong…but did Minerva produce diesel-engines?
On the two Minerva’s of your pictures (Hendrickx of Antwerp I guess) you can clearly
see the four-circles Perkins-emblem…Van Steenbergen rapidly changed the Knight-
engines of their tractors (due to scanning-problems not yet shown here) and replaced
them with Deutz-diesels by Vansweevelt.
Which number-plate (registration) you mean? You know that registrations were that
frequent changed, I recall trucks having four different registrations, not the V-licence
related to the fleet-number.
ERF-Continental:
Eric…correct me when I am wrong…but did Minerva produce diesel-engines?On the two Minerva’s of your pictures (Hendrickx of Antwerp I guess) you can clearly
see the four-circles Perkins-emblem…Van Steenbergen rapidly changed the Knight-
engines of their tractors (due to scanning-problems not yet shown here) and replaced
them with Deutz-diesels by Vansweevelt.Which number-plate (registration) you mean? You know that registrations were that
frequent changed, I recall trucks having four different registrations, not the V-licence
related to the fleet-number.
Hey, Yes they had diesels, and yes I see the rings of Perkins.
Yes I mean registration numbers, owned by the owner of the vehicle and re-used on an other after change.
Not V or trucknumber.
bye Eric,
Pictures from 1948 during Sint-Christoffel-blessing of Minerva TTL. Van Steenbergen had two
of these (fast) tractors with first Minerva-Knight-engines, but later replaced with Deutz-engines.
The trailer is for transport of cattle and produced by TTA (Truck Tractor Appliances of Merksem)
and later sold to Centrum Transport of Valkenswaard, together with Rynart one of the first to
discover the Middle East as destination.
The other picture is on the yard, from left (behind) to the right (front):
Minerva TTL, White 1064, Mack NR4D, Foden and Bedford OYD.
Again some advertisements/covers …
@Eric…I now discover the A.G.65 and A.G.75 having a Diesel Minerva 95hp!
tiptop495:
hey ERF, yes roping and sheeting days but with cables instead of ropes, easy to put them on if they were
coiled after a while of using, and hook plates which felt on your head if the cables get stuck.
On that pic if you look to the new numberplate launched in the begining of the '50’s , it must have been
driven for a long time after war. Think big lorries weren’t built after WWII.
Here a couples with old plates. Could it be that they had a Perkins in them after rebuilt■■?
Because an old mate ( a native of Antwerp) told me years ago that Minerva diesels were a real disaster.
Good in the '20’s but soon layed of because of the Knight system.Bye Eric,
These two Minerva’s (both survived WW II) are from type T18 HL and purchased in 1938 after Minerva introduced it in 1937.
According to Walter Ceulemans of Halle the Minerva (petrol) engine was replaced by a Perkins (diesel) engine
in the course of 1950’s.
Quite some Belgian specialists were dedicated to the rich history of Minerva (and Auto-traction) …to mention
the most ‘important’ ones, Mr. and Mrs. Kupelian of Overijse, Mr. Walter Ceulemans of Halle, Mr. Fernand Van
de Plas of Sint Katelijne-Waver (Mechelen) and many others as J. de Groot, R. Fonteyne, J. Claes, Ch. Smits,
J. van Eeckhout, F. Van Steenbergen, L. Stevenart, P. Mahieu and all those I skipped now…
Herewith some (unsharp) pictures of two still existing Minerva-tractors, luckily saved and with
a thorough restauration as age counts…both type MLT with 20hp Knight-engine, the MLT of
1924 worked for a meat-merchant in Mechelen and the MLT of 1925 spent his/her days with
a mover of Antwerp. Overall speed then was about 25km/hour and GTW about 8.000kgs. Pay
attention to the full-rubber tyres on the trailer…most tractors had those too but due to wear
later replaced by air-tyres. Englebert was a very wellknown tyre manufacturer of Belgium then.
Any Land Rover fans will know that Minerva also built Land Rover Series models under licence.
They are identifiable by some slight changes in profile, I’ll look out some pics.
So modest, so typical of the ‘shy’ Belgains that they are no longer proud of their heritage…and
no input on this once so big and wellknown marque is given, I now understand the struggles both
Paul Mahieu and Jean Claes experienced to activate this heritage, a real shame and a shame…
many articles, books are written…but most of the " enthousiasts" enjoy this marque remote?
From origin a Belgian company/forwarder (Colignon) but by mariage a Dutch and wellknown transporter
as well as distributor (comparable with BRS) with strong connections to Dutch Railways! As an example
they did not fear M/E operations, starting AFGHAN INTERNATIONAL with 15 DAF 2800 and Eurotrailers.
Well to go back to the thread…some Minerva’s in operation!
