In Antwerp, Belgium, my great-grandfather was a car builder in 1900 till his death in 1913. Then his sons continued the firm, maintaining cars and trucks in the 1920-30s. On the attached picture (between 1923 and 1930) this was their workplace. One person is working at a car. Now, I’ve been told this is a Ford model T, but I’m not 100% convinced, so I would like to ask for your help to identify the type of car and model. Many thanks for your help, Jørgen.
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The shape of the radiator shell and the contours of the front fender don’t look like a Model T to my eyes. I hope this helps.
Yes it does. thank you. I asked because someone was convinced, but the shock absorbers are different, two light bulbs are different and I wasn’t sure of the radiator shell compared to all Model T’s I could find. Then today i stumbled on a photo on a Dutch site showing a few Belgian legendary makes of the brand SAVA. The radiator follows the same curves and we see part of the logo resembling. Many thanks!
That photograph of your great grandfather at work is a treasure!
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Pretty sure not a Model T
Front springs on axle are not Ford Model T style as well.
Great picture
It’s a pity I couldn’t find any more of these.
Now I’m convinced as well this is not a Ford.
I found a similar front on prewarcars.nl, so I superimposed the front with the photo, and it looks like it is a 1926 Minerva AF town car.
A Minerva was a very expensive Belgian car back then. Very impressive.
Been awhile since I have checked in here. Hopefully your recent post is recent enough that my comments can still be found by you.
The Minerva was one of many fine European cars of the 1920s. A very good friend many years ago had a large collection of fine (mostly American) motorcars. Of all the wonderful automobiles he had, one of his most favorite cars was his Minerva.
The main comment I wish to make, however, is that “town car” is the body style of the car you compared with on the internet. The car in your family’s photo is not showing enough of the car to determine the body style of that car. While it may have been a town car, it is more likely that is was some other sort of sedan or coupe, or even an open body style car.
Many Minerva automobiles received custom built bodies when new.
I am no expert on Minerva automobiles. However, at my first glance at your photo, my first thought was to remember Jack’s Minerva! He sure loved that car, and enjoyed taking it to collector car shows.
Hi Wayne, Thanks, but I do think we found the right brand. I understand at first glance that there’s doubt, but now I’m pretty sure it’s the right comparison to make although I realize it may not be the same model. I cannot tell how many pictures I have run through to find a resembling model, so in the end I believe the town car comes the closest to the model of my grand-uncles were maintaining. And actually they were not maintaining: they were building cars. My great-grandfather built the first of truck at Antwerp (and I don’t know what engine he used, but the picture of that truck is great). It wasn’t easy to resize and collate the pictures. I don’t know if I find the correct words to translate from Dutch to English to name the designated parts so with a little twist you may know where I look at on the old photo and then compare to the mirrored parts on the new photo: car suspension and steering to the front wheels, light bulbs look exactly the same (OK, one small one on top is missing, but the car is in maintenance or was added to the restaurated car.), It’s a real pity the iconic Minerva mascot is missing from the old picture, but when you follow the curves on the radiator, then to me it’s getting close to meet the Minerva on the left. The splashback looks similar as well. In the end, we concluded it could not be a Ford. The confusion was made because my granddad owned a Ford A in the 1930s. Also of that car I have a picture that partly shows the car. I posted it on Ford A forum. It’s such a shame we have nothing left of that era. families went each their ways and at that time, people were not busy with preserving much for the future. Here’s the Ford I mentioned at least i think it is (although the oval rear window may suggest another model or brand; we also thought it could be a Citroën Rosalie 8 deluxe).
