Almost throughout automotive history there have been individuals
and companies seeking to make their mark - and their fortunes
- with a car which was simple, cheap to buy and economical to
run. The quest for these objectives has often led to unorthodox
solutions and in the marketplace unorthodoxy has more often brought
failure than fame. However, there have been notable exceptions
and known to us all are Henry Ford's marvellous Model-T, Citroen's
2CV and the legendary VW Beetle, the latter still in production
after more than 60 years. As non-conformist as any of these if
less enduring was Leslie Hounsfield's Trojan, which enjoyed a
strong following in its day.
Hounsfield's company Trojan Ltd of Croydon was first registered
in 1914. Its core business was general and precision engineering
but L H had been working on his ideas for a car since 1904 and
had already built a prototype. Five pre-production cars were constructed
during a period of six years - the private car had low priority
during the First World War - but then Hounsfield decided to license
his design rather than make it in his own works. An agreement
was concluded in 1922 with Leyland Motors who, already famed as
manufacturers of commercial vehicles, had recently diversified
into the ultra-luxury car business. Their Straight Eight, designed
by J G Parry Thomas and costing £1850 for the bare chassis alone,
seemed an incongruous stablemate for the first Trojan 4-seater
tourer which was launched at just £175 complete.
From its very foundations the Trojan was different. In place of
the conventional chassis of the period, the basis was a punt-like
steel pressing. The suspension front and rear was by long, soft
cantilever leaf springs. These were deemed adequate to provide
ride comfort and, when pneumatics had long been the norm for passenger
cars, Trojans continued to roll on solid tyres as standard with
pneumatics an extra cost option. Hounsfield also eschewed the
trend by other manufacturers to add frontwheel brakes during the
twenties. His cars continued with a footbrake acting on the rear
wheels and a handbrake engaging on the transmission until Trojan
car production ceased well into the thirties.
If you know the Trojan you may recall that it employed a two-stroke
engine. However, this again was an unorthodox design. The 1 1/2-litre
unit had four cylinders cast in 'four-square' configuration and
was mounted horizontally. The cylinders worked in pairs, each
pair sharing a common combustion chamber. The transfer (inlet)
port - which admitted the fuel/air mixture which in the usual
two-stroke manner had been compressed in the crankcase - was in
one cylinder and the exhaust port in the other of the pair. The
advantage of the Trojan design was improved scavenging of exhaust
gases and less loss - as happens with two-strokes - of a proportion
of the fuel/air mixture with the exhaust. The Trojan engine gave
excellent economy and although power output was very modest (11
bhp at 1200 rpm) it produced excellent torque from low speed.
To damp the uneven impulses of a two-stroke on small throttle
openings, Hounsfield interposed springs between the flywheel and
the gearbox input flange. He took a leaf from the Ford Model-T
book by choosing an epicycling gearbox - two-speed and reverse
- which made for ease of gearchanging, which could be done clutchless
if you wished. From the gearbox the drive went through a 2:1 reduction
gear and then by chain to the solid rear axle. The Trojan was
unconventional yet again in not employing a differential. This
omission made the Trojan something of a martyr to the dreaded
'side-slip', with progress sometimes somewhat diagonal on wet
cobbled streets. However, with its good low speed torque and no
propensity to spin a wheel on steep and slippery slopes a Trojan
could keep going - even if very slowly - where more fancy machinery
came to an involuntary rest. The Trojan had not a little sporting
success in hill-climbs and reliability trails where speed was
not of the essence.
Trojans used fuel frugally and seldom saw the inside of a workshop.
Whilst conventional four-stroke engines were in frequent need
of de-cokes and valve grinding, these two-strokers only need an
occasional scraping around their exhaust ports. Some owners claimed
100,000-plus miles without trouble. Understandably the Trojan
was not popular with the garage trade but it was embraced by the
penny and pound conscious private motorists and Trojan vans sold
well to businesses. Older readers will remember the bright red
vans which used to deliver Brooke Bond tea - and were that company's
best form of advertising long before the TV chimps got hooked
on PG Tips. BB's Trojan fleet numbered 2000 even as early as 1927
and there were many other major companies with hundreds of the
two-strokers toting their wares as well as many small traders.
Most of the under 10 cwt transportation for the Royal Air Force
was performed by Trojans and it was probably this military link
which encouraged Hounsfield to develop a six-wheeler cross-country
version of his popular workhorse in 1928, the year that the Trojan
works took over the manufacture of the vehicles from Leyland.
The Trojan 'chassis' was extended and two rear axles were mounted
at the ends of two long inverted semi-elliptic springs. The forward
axle was driven by chain as before and a second chain-drive took
power to the rear one. The new 6 x 4 gained a three-speed epicyclic
gearbox and a two-speed reduction 'box increased the choice of
ratios to six. This cross-country version enjoyed considerable
success and it was undoubtedly the foundation which Leslie Hounsfield,
decided he had earned some time for recreation, picked when he
determined to build himself a motorhome.
The Trojan motorhome looks much like its contemporaries - there
were a few others at the time which also boasted six wheels -
but like the Trojan cars it hid quite a few novel features under
its skin. The latter incidentally is canvas stretched over a frame
of one-inch square timbers and, in the fashion of its time, it
would have been weatherproofed with numerous coats of paint. An
inner of 3mm oak-veneered ply completed a cavity wall structure
to combat condensation, whilst similarly appreciating the essentials
of caravan construction window sills were provided with drains.
There is nothing elaborate about the layout of the interior, to
whose detailed design Mrs Hounsfield had a considerable input,
but there is much which is practical. The 6ft 3in long side seats
become the beds at night after their feather cushions have been
replaced on the stretcher-style bases which by day are rolled
away at the back. The seal lockers have sectioned tops for easy
access and in turn the floors of the lockers can be lifted to
reach the road springs and drive chains. Shelves above add to
stowage space when on site. In the rear corners are two cupboards.
One is shelved for pots and pans, crockery, foodstuffs including
a special shelf for the eggs. The other opens to reveal a circular
wick paraffin stove with flue taken up and through the rear of
the body. Openings top and bottom allow air to circulate by convection,
warming the interior of the caravan, while the products of combustion
are discharged outside. This is an airing-cupboard or drying-cupboard
for clothes.
Between the cupboards and below the caravan's rear window an aluminium
tray serves as a kitchen work surface. There's storage space for
stoves and other cooking gear underneath and then below gain -
in the coolest area - a larder. The table mounts on an ingenious
pillar system and, yet another practical touch, a second and narrower
tabletop is also provided which can be used when cooking, allows
room to pass by and can double when bridged between the two seats
to extend seating capacity.
On the front of the Luton of the Hounsfield motorhome, you'll
note, is what looks like a radiator. It does serve a similar purpose.
L H contrived to supply his outfit with hot water. There is a
3-gallon tank set among the cupboards in the Luton; the Trojan's
radiator is allowed to boil and to pass through an enlarged pipe
in the tank so heating the water, the condenser recirculates its
condensate to the radiator.
And that's not the end of the mod cons in this 1928 model. It
boasted electric lighting. There was one central light for the
living area and a second light above the door to the cab, where
incidentally the seat which can take three by day can do duty
as a third bed at night. There was a ventilated battery box to
the rear of the passenger door, which also served as the entrance
to the caravan, and on the step to the driver's door a metal box
designed to carry a tent. Even the problem of giving the caravan
a sweep out had been considered with a trap door set in the rear
floor through which sweepings could be 'vanished'. And, with no
propshaft to obstruct the underfloor up front another trap door
gave access to a locker big enough to take pails, the paraffin
can and other grubbier gear better kept out of the real interior.
Back in the twenties the best one might have expected from a commercial
vehicle by way of indicating the driver's intentions was a hand
signal. Mr Hounsfield was ahead of his time in matters of signalling
and safety. The motorhome's rear light only one was required to
meet the regulations of the day) was set high up on the right;
it was arranged to show through to the interior so a glance in
the mirror could show if it was working. Below the number plate
was a signalling panel on which a 'turning right' arrow or the
word 'Overtake' could be illuminated. And Mr H was ahead of the
game in providing himself with a decent view to the rear, in addition
to designing his outfit with a good rear window he fitted the
twenties equivalent of the Fresnel lens. The round 'window' flanked
by curtains which you see in our drawing is, in fact, a large
lens which, as a contemporary report said, 'gives one a comprehensive
view of the country as one might see a reflection in a convex
mirror.'
As far as we know, the Boss' motorhome was the only one built
on a between-the-wars Trojan. It's a pity Leslie Hounsfield did
not put his talents as a motorhome designer to commercial use.He
was an ideas man who could have done a lot for the infant industry.
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