Rétromobile is just around the corner and nestled amongst the enormous space inside The Grand Palais in Paris is an interesting selection of cars to be auctioned by Bonhams on Thursday 8 February.
If the Minerva marque is your thing you are in for a treat because there are no less than eleven examples from which to choose, starting with a 1907 Type K 40 HP limousine/torpédo transformable with imposing Belvalette coachwork attracted the first owner at the Grand Palais having '... spun on his heels' at being told the Rolls Royce he wanted had a 12 month waiting list.
The newest is a stately thirties limousine - a 1938 Type F/M8 . Its six-light cabin is separated with a fixed division, most probably to distinguish passengers from its chauffeur, and with harder wearing leather for the front and fawn Bedford cloth for the rear. Much effort is made in this car's detail with stylized Art Deco wood door cappings, and door pulls, commodious seats with extended arm rests and vanity units to the sides.
Amongst the other different style Minervas on offer from different periods, we particularly like the 1925 Type AD « Feval » berline à carrosserie toilée with lightweight fabric covered Weyman coachwork which has been carefully preserved by just two owners - which to this day has a graceful patina but only modest attrition.
Other makes of veteran cars include a 1908 De Dion-Bouton Type AX 15 HP double berline, a five-place 1910 Cadillac Model 30 tourer , a similar five-place FN modèle 2000 tourer from 1912 and a 1909 Zedel Type CA 10 HP double Phaëton . Bonhams share no less than twenty photos to illustrate the Underslung 1912 Regal 25 HP Model N ( see picture right)
Now we are in sporty mode so let's look at the 1936 Alta 2-Litre Sports - a rare beast by anyone's standards. Restored in 1974, the car features Alta's 1,960cc twin-cam engine, which is fed by an Alta Roots-type supercharger - all made by the car's designer Geoffrey Taylor .
The engine produces 160bhp at 6,000rpm and the complete car weighs 800kg. and a four-speed Wilson pre-selector gearbox. ( This writer would give rubies for such a car!)
Text Robin Batchelor, pictures courtesy Bonhams.