JBS Collection
ELKHART, IN — Among the automobiles in Jack Boyd Smith Jr.’s The JBS Collection are automotive masterpieces, one-off rarities, and museum-ready artifacts currently on display. But no other automobile inspires Smith Jr.’s automotive passion and imagination quite like the collection’s 1928 Minerva AF Transformable Town Car.
The multiple award-winning Minerva—designed and produced by a former bicycle manufacturer in Belgium and powered by inventor Charles Yale Knight’s wildly innovative sleeve valve engine (a.k.a. the ‘Silent Knight’)—is the subject of Episode Two of The JBS Collection’s automotive series, The Journey.
Produced in association with LaVine Restorations, Inc. and Eyedart Creative Studio, The Journey offers backroom insight and illuminating detail into some of the most compelling restorations completed by Smith Jr. and expert restoration partner Travis LaVine—co-owner of LaVine Restorations and a rising, young advocate for the automotive restoration industry.
Episode Two captures the unique dynamic between collector Smith Jr. and restorer LaVine as they revisit their delicate and challenging preservation of the Minerva. A vehicle with an unlikely history, the Minerva symbolizes—to Smith Jr.—the unstoppable spirit of innovation and persistence that defined the early years of the automotive industry.
“This Minerva is a fascinating car to me, and it’s the kind of car that drives my curiosity and passion,” said Smith Jr., whose collection is currently ranked 85th in the world by The Classic Car Trust’s The Key publication. “Minerva started out making bicycles and ended up manufacturing luxury vehicles preferred and owned by European kings and royalty, and even Henry Ford. Minerva was known as the Belgian Rolls-Royce. Charles Yale Knight was a dairy industry publisher with experience working on valves in his father’s sawmill. He hated the loud, noisy valves on his early Knox and he went on to develop the double sliding sleeve principle. This Minerva, to me, represents the most important theme throughout automotive history: We can do this.”
We can do this—according to LaVine and as described in Episode Two—was also a theme on which the two partners and friends heavily relied while preserving this Minerva to its exact original, unblemished condition. “So much goes into a restoration like the Minerva,” LaVine said, “and that’s the type of background information Jack and I are excited to share in The Journey. Just to give you an idea of the scope of this restoration—we worked with experts in the United States and Belgium to produce nineteen different material prototypes with which to recreate the interior upholstery. We’re talking everything from color scheme to fabric weave, every detail—and that’s just for the carpeting.
Since its 2018 restoration, The JBS Collection’s 1928 Minerva AF Transformable Town Car—adorned with extraordinarily crafted Hibbard & Darrin coachwork—has won awards at the Concours at Pebble Beach and Amelia Island and earned special invitations to the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este and the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace.
Minerva started transitioning into automobiles in 1902 with a six-horsepower four-cylinder automobile, and founder Sylvain de Jong launched Société Anonyme Minerva Motors in 1903—leading to volume car production in 1904 with an array of two, three, and four-cylinder chain-driven models. Minerva’s 8-litre Kaiserpreis won the Belgian Circuit des Ardennes race in 1907, and in 1908 Minerva obtained a worldwide license for Charles Yale Knight’s double-sleeve technology engine.
Knight, essentially ‘greatly annoyed’ by the loud clamor caused by traditional poppet valves, put his homegrown engineering skills—cultivated early on by working with machines in his father’s sawmill—to historic use in redefining the driving experience.
Knight’s quiet-driving sleeve valve engine, which came to be known as the ‘Silent Knight,’ faced heavy skepticism from American manufacturers. But the young engineer’s persistence led him to England, where his work with Daimler and Lanchester resulted in the development of the Daimler TB22 and earned the Dewar engineering award.
“I’ve come across remarkable histories and stories with each and every car in The JBS Collection, and that’s some of what we share with this series,” said Smith Jr. “What’s special about this Minerva is that it captures the unstoppable spirit of automotive innovation. It’s important to me to bring vehicles like this Minerva back to life for future generations to appreciate, and The Journey is a way for me to share the stories of these cars with the world.
“For LaVine’s part, the second-generation restoration expert—whose parents Eric and Vivian LaVine founded LaVine Restorations over 50 years ago—also sees The Journey as an opportunity to educate the younger generation about the potential rewards of a career in automotive restoration.
“I’m blessed to have been around the restoration business my whole life, but the fact is that every year the restoration space is seeing folks retire and hang up their shop keys for good,” said LaVine. “There’s often no next generation to pick up the mantle. One of my personal goals is to inspire young people to get excited about restoration as a career—and not just because my calendar is packed like sardines two years out with projects, and we’re getting more calls every day. All jest aside, I love this business. Shining some light on amazing projects like this Minerva is a chance for me to convey the fact that restoration offers gratifying, fulfilling career opportunities for young people looking for their life’s work.”
“Watch The Journey, Episode Two on The JBS Collection website.
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