About a hundred years ago, the Minerva automobile started to conquer the world. Super-rich people such as heads of state, royal families and even the American car manufacturer Henry Ford drove around in what was then called “a sublime salon on wheels made in Antwerp”. Gangster boss Al Capone had a secure model.
However, it all started modestly in 1895 with a bicycle factory in Karel Oomsstraat. The founder was Sylvain de Jong, who moved here from Amsterdam. Together with his brothers and local bicycle makers, they soon produced two hundred bicycles a week. Then they started making motorcycles and from 1904 also the famous luxury cars.
With armor steel
When the First World War broke out, Minerva was called upon to be the first to make armored cars at the Cockerill factory in Hoboken. These were the known models, covered with 4mm armor steel plates around the engine and cabin, plus a Hotchkiss automatic machine gun on the open top. They were used as a kind of motorized cavalry against the advancing German troops, inflicting great losses on them.
The battle did not last long. The Belgian army had to withdraw behind the Yser and the flooded area was too wet and swampy for the heavy vehicles. But by then the armored Minervas had proven what they were capable of.
 in Antwerp: Minerva car factory built first armored car (Hoboken)){kind=link}