Engine Punk

In my earlier musings about the blown Trojan engine, I wondered if they had any performance potential. Well an owner of one of them has been in touch to say No. “It was the most gutless, gas-guzzling, useless piece of junk one could hope to drive, and its top speed was about 40 mph if one ignored the mechanical thrashing. One can only imagine its diff ratio!” This was from Paul Edwards in wobbly Christchurch , New Zealand , who’d owned a pick up version of the van version you see here. The supercharged Trojan 15 cwt van - not big down under “My Trojan used an aluminium head on one side, and cast-iron one on the other. I used to show people that it was, in effect, a W6!”  Paul’s was built in 1953 so probably had the enlarged 1290cc variant of this engine, which originally boasted 1186cc. That swept volume doesn’t include the pumping pistons of course. “It's the word 'supercharged' that promises so much, “ says Paul. “Imagine if the Japane...