Mr Scroggs in his Trojan three-door tourer.
Although far from burdened with excessive amounts of power, vintage Trojans can make for handy little trials cars thanks to their light weight, simple construction, and - as can be seen here - useful amounts of axle articulation. The chap driving this example with some verve is a Mr Scroggs apparently, while his bouncer - hanging on in the rear compartment - can just be seen over this right shoulder. While many Trojans were equipped with skinny solid tyres, this example (registration RK 9788) sports a set of chunkier pneumatic tyres which was a factory option, no doubt running at a very low pressure for maximum grip. The RK (London) registration series ran from 1922 to 1927, so this car's late number confirms a date of 1927 or thereabouts.
|
|
Early cars such as this were produced at the Leyland lorry factory at Kingston upon Thames, and were known as Leyland-Trojans. In 1928 the arrangement with Leyland would come to an end and Trojan Ltd switched production to a facility in Croydon. According to the owners' club, this car was fitted with a three-door tourer body. Vans were also available, examples of which can be seen here.
|
| (Please click the thumbnails to view the full-size image.) |
|
|
|
The 1,488cc twin-cylinder two-stroke engine was attached to a chain drive arrangement driving the rear wheels, the power unit being mounted beneath the car's
occupants rather than under the "bonnet".
|
Scroggs and RK 9788.
Scroggs, who served in the RAF, was a well-known trials driver in his day, and in the 1920s regularly showed a clean pair of heels to works'-entered Trojans in trials, at the wheel of his tatty privately-owned Utility Car. Recognising his skills both as an engineer and as a driver, the factory brought him in to develop their engine. The result, following the development of a much improved prototype, was the PH engine. Some time later Scroggs would be given the prototype engine, and it went into a newly-built Utility with which he competed in trials with yet more success. The car shown here, RK 9788, came his way in 1938 after it had been traded in with the factory for scrap. The development engine found its way into this car, and it was used off and on until 1964 for trials, until corrosion issues with the cylinder head and bores halted proceedings. Amazingly the car and its engine, both restored, survive to this day.
|
|
This photograph is one of several sent to me by the family of Cyril Welland, of Welland's Garage in Somerset.
|
|
Return to Page 17 in the vintage gallery.
|
