The Classic Era Minerva is a spectacular automobile: over-built and over-engineered to a standard of few other cars, with a massive chassis and complex but silky-smooth sleeve-valve engine. It literally stands above the others, in particular with the exotic formal coachwork often specified, such as this magnificent six-cylinder AK with its coupe chauffeur body by Hibbard & Darrin of Paris, using their patented Silentlyte all-metal construction.

Robert Wellwood of Findlay, Ohio, a mechanical engineer and early member of the Classic Car Club of America, acquired the Model AK in Toledo, Ohio, in 1938, rescuing it from a dealership that had intended to sell it to a salvage yard. Mr. Wellwood brought the Minerva home and garaged it for the rest of his life, determining that it had been in the United States by 1931—based upon a Hoover sticker present—but otherwise being unable to uncover its past. After Mr. Wellwood’s passing in 1991, Bill Bibb of Oak Hill, West Virginia, acquired it from his heirs. “Out of my respect for Mr. Wellwood’s profession, character, and love for coachbuilt cars, I had to do this job to perfection,” Mr. Bibb wrote in 2008. “My goal was a vehicle that would perform as intended—not a museum object which is only good to look at and talk about.”

The painstaking, highly detailed, and thorough restoration, extensively described in writings and photographs on file, was at last completed in 1997. Mr. Bibb took the car on a tour of major American concours, winning special awards at Lehigh and Meadowbrook, Best in Class at Ault Park, and Best of Show at the Glenmoor Gathering, as well as six different honors in Antique Automobile Club of America National judging. In 1998 it was shown as part of the Minerva feature year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance; of the 12 Minervas entered, it was the only car to take part in the inaugural Tour d’Elegance and received the Co-Chairmen’s Trophy.

Mr. Bibb continued to meticulously maintain the Minerva until 2017, when he sold it to town car aficionados Clive and Janet Cussler, in whose collection it has been preserved to the same high standard. In fact, it remains in nearly flawless overall condition, with crisp, concours-quality finishes inside and out, and hardly any noticeable signs of wear. Undoubtedly few Minervas have been restored and kept to such an immaculate standard. “The Wellwood Minerva” is an outstanding automobile in every respect.