1923 Trojan
The Trojan was produced in the UK during the years 1922 to 1929. Originally assembled by Leyland up to 1926, production was then taken over by the designer, Leslie Hounsfield for the next few years. During this time some minor updating took place. The ‘Utility’ became the ‘Ten’ and sales continued until the mid-1930s, when car production finally ended.
Whilst the Trojan had a rather odd look and could never be described as a performance car it must have had some appeal to many motorists as more than 16,000 cars were sold.
The Trojan had some unusual design features since it certainly adopted quite an unconventional approach in its design. It was laid out as a mid-engined vehicle but in fact, whilst it still had what appeared to be a bonnet at the front of the vehicle this only contained the radiator and fuel tank.
The four-cylinder two-stroke engine quoted as developing 8 kW at 1200rpm was mounted under the rear floor where it drove the rear wheels through a two-speed and reverse epicyclic gearbox. It even had a form of ‘self-starter’ which was, in fact, a ratcheted lever on the floor.
The Trojan had a solid chassis and suspension comprised a beam-axle front and rear but having very thin, solid tyres this ‘workhorse’ gave a very firm ride, and was claimed by some to be quite uncomfortable, especially on the roads of that time.
In spite of what appears to be some major deficiencies the Trojan soon acquired many fans, for the Trojan, if nothing else, was very reliable and rarely required maintenance. Some models were claimed to have clocked up 160,000 kms needing little more than an engine de-coke.
