By Frank Sinatra, AAP Editor

With yesterday’s untimely passing of Philadelphia radio icon Pierre Robert, we went back into our archives to share the time we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing everyone’s favorite citizen in 2013. This article ran in our March issue that year.

In 1981, a disc jockey by the name of William Pierre Robert drove his VW Microbus named Minerva 2,875 miles from San Francisco to Philadelphia with dreams of making it big in radio. Twenty years later, after the original Minerva was seized and crushed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority, Robert, now a radio icon in Philadelphia with two decades of service at rock station WMMR, received Minerva II, a 1972 Volkswagen Type 2 Westfalia, as an anniversary present from the radio station. Minerva II had definitely seen better days, even after dumping several thousands of dollars into its repair.

Fast forward to late September 2012; a dilapidated and undriveable Minerva II occupies a parking spot outside of WMMR’s studios. The building management had finally had enough, and an ultimatum was made: get rid of Minerva or else. To the relief of Philadelphia’s favorite cosmic citizen and his throngs of fans across the Delaware Valley, a savior came in to not just restore but make significant upgrades to Minerva. In order to make that happen, Pierre’s precious Microbus had to head to Pennsauken.

CollisionMax, a family-run company with 11 auto body repair shops across the Delaware Valley, came in at the 11th hour to tackle Minerva’s renovation. The “all hands on deck” project, spearheaded by CollisionMax COO Pat Beavers, began with Pierre’s beloved vehicle being transported to the company’s SuperCenter in Pennsauken, which acts as sort of a central hub for the other CollisionMax locations.

“Pennsauken is in the center of all [our] shops,” says Rich Tornetta, marketing manager at CollisionMax. “We needed to pull more than one guy in from each one of those shops to do various things on Minerva. In addition, it’s our largest shop; pretty much every tool that we would ever need is all under one roof. It was the best place to have it done.”

The work that needed to be done to Minerva was extensive. Many panels, as well as the majority of parts, had to be replaced. The rear-wheel-drive engine that came with the Microbus was replaced with the front wheel drive engine out of a 2009 Saturn Aura, which was retrofitted into the back of Minerva, adding fuel efficiency and 100 more horsepower. CollisionMax also added four-wheel disc brakes, a drive-by-wire gas pedal, and modern-day air conditioning and heating.

“Every piece of [Minerva] has been replaced or repaired or altered in some way to get her back to working condition,” says Tornetta.

Another integral part of Minerva’s resurrection was the paint job, which was donated by Franny Drummond, owner of Paint Zoo. Known for his airbrush work on goalie helmets, including the one Philadelphia Flyer Ilya Bryzgalov wore during the 2012 Winter Classic, Drummond rose to the occasion for this one-of-a-kind project. Vibrant imagery of rock icons Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and Jerry Garcia adorn Minerva, alongside psychedelic renderings of the day and night filled with symbols of peace, love and rock and roll. The intricate attention to detail is amazing, considering that the entire job was done in only three and half weeks.

“It was a labor of love,” explained Drummond. “There just so much on a van like this. We wanted to kind of show ‘Pierre’ on this van. Everything on this van [was painted] by hand, from pin striping all the way through.”

The finished project was unveiled during the first day of the Philadelphia Home Show on Feb. 2. A large crowd, consisting of CollisionMax employees, WMMR radio personalities and staff, and countless fans were on hand alongside Pierre Robert as “Minerva 3.0” was unveiled. The big reveal was electric, and the disc jockey was floored.

“If you look at the detail, everywhere you look, it’s three dimensional, it’s larger than life and it’s so, so cool,” says Robert. “It’s stunning. I’m at a loss for words.”

In addition to the eight days Minerva 3.0 was on public display at the Philadelphia Home Show, Pierre commented that he and the VW Microbus that was returned from the Great Beyond would be doing some appearances at CollisionMax locations sometime during March and April. Minerva will also be rolled out during the summer season in a grand fashion.

“I imagine a Minerva tour of some kind. It’s going to be fun.”