The MINERVA Land-Rovers were built in Belgium, in a town called Minerva!!
The body was constructed using only steel instead of the aluminium used on British built vehicles. The body was also a different shape, most noticably being the sloping front wings. They didn't have the opening ventilation flaps on the top of the bulkhead, under the windscreen, either.
They used the standard 80-inch Land-Rover chassis
They were described in the Belgium army as a '1/4 Ton 4X4 Minerva license Land Rover'.
The Land Rover / Minervas were built in a Town called Mortsel, very close to Antwerp.
The Company name was established and used when their factory was in Bercham, Antwerp, They had several factory sites over the years But Minerva name derives from the ancient Goddess, not the location of production.
There is no village called Minerva in Belgium!!
The Mortsell factory, which had been owned by the Minerva Car Company was taken over by the Germans after the invasion and use for the the repair Of Me 109's. Bombed by the US in 1943 (a catastophe where most of the bombs landed in the town of Mortsell causing a large number of civilian deaths), after Liberation REME used the Mortsel factory until 1948. The factory was in a poor state and the government funded its rebuild to allow the Contract Minervas to be built
There is Birmabright (aluminium) in the body. The grill panel, in front of the Radiator is a standard Land Rover panel, supplied by Land Rover in Birmabright. It has even got the unused clips pressed out at the bottom to take the bottom edge of standard Land rover full grill / lights through grill or Tee Grill. The instrument panel is also a Rover Birmabright panel.
No 80" had ventilation panels as you describe them These where not introduced until 1954 on the 86" model. (some 80's had the infill on the windscreen frame, below the window glass, but still part of the folding frame, as a single opening panel the full width of the frame.) so there is no noticeable difference here.
The chassis, although supplied by Land Rover was not standard. Minerva specified that there should be no PTO hole in the rear cross member. Later after the Military and Gendarmerie vehicle had been supplied, Minervas where built for the civilian market, and for these vehicles a standard chassis with PTO hole was used, however the vast majority of production had this hole omitted. Some publicity shots of the Civilian 80" Minerva with Land rover rear PTO and Pulley fitted.
Another noticeable difference is that a Minerva exhaust finishes behind the drivers door , the British 80" has the exhaust routed back and across the rear to emerge on the opposite side of the vehicle. Also there are only two seats at the front, the normal Centre seat having become a steel toolbox. Without going inside the vehicle the windscreen frame carries the wiper motors on a single hole where the spindle comes out from the hollow fixing thread. (one hole not three in the frame.)
The Army release papers for my Minerva show it identified as TRK 1/4T 4x4 LR 12v (ie no mention of Minerva)