SOLD --- Beautiful Minerva Land Rover in very good condition.. This is an original Belgian Minerva built in Antwerp in 1955. Lovely model with multiple options and gadgets included.

Exterior:

This Minerva is all complete. The paint is in very good condition and so are the soft tops that come with the car. The doors open all the way up and can be taken off, so can all the soft tops. The car has multiple options like the winge in front, the fuel tank, etc.

Interior:

The seats are in very nice condition and are also very comfortable for a Rover like this. It has a few options in the interior like the flashlight and the extra storage under the seats.

Mechanics:

Car drives very good and has no issues. Very clean engine department and undercarriage.

History:

The Belgian Army needed a replacement for the approximately 500 Willys MBs they still had in use as World War II surplus. To that end, the Willys CJ3a and the Land Rover 80-inch Series 1 came into the picture in 1951 to cover that need. After test drives with both cars, the Land Rover was chosen. What also played a role was the amount of parts that could be sourced locally in Belgium and assembly in a Belgian factory. This turned out to be the deciding factor. The Minerva factories in Mortsel near Antwerp were chosen for Land Rover assembly. Minerva was known before the war as a manufacturer of luxury automobiles, truck and buses. The company had come out of World War II badly damaged and would never again experience the glory of yesteryear.

Various automobiles from other companies were assembled after the war. In the fall of 1951, assembly of the Land Rover Series 1 began, eventually featuring a steel body instead of Land Rover's aluminum. Typically, the articulated front fenders were easier to make than Land Rover's contoured ones. In the beginning Land Rover also supplied chassis and bulkhead, but over time Minerva also made these itself and Land Rover only supplied the engine, engine components and dashboard.

The Belgian Army took delivery of ca. 8400 Minervas. Minerva also assembled about 370 Land Rover Series 1 for the gendarmerie and there were about 30 civilian Minervas. All were delivered until the spring of 1955.

A dispute arose with Land Rover over Minerva's failure to switch to 86-inch versions of the newer Land Rover Series 1 in a timely and incomplete manner. Eventually Land Rover wanted to sever relations, but in an out-of-court agreement, Minerva built 1,100 more 86-inch versions of their version of the Land Rover Series 1 during the years 1954-1956. These were all civilian versions that were also exported.