Vintage Thing No. 97 - Trojan Senior van

"Here is a sturdy good-looking van which conforms in every way to modern requirements. It's construction is typical of Trojan simplicity and solidity and just as with all Trojan vehicles, even if driven carelessly, will not sustain injury to the mechanical parts."

Despite their weirdness and lack of performance I remain intrigued by Trojans and some of the commercial vans were actually very well styled.

The two examples shown are both Trojan Senior 12cwt models, 12cwt equating to 610kgs or slightly less than the capacity on my old Citroen van (VT No.44).

This a special bodied baker's van built out of aluminium to the order of Kenyon's. Cakes go on top with bread below.

They had a reputation for hard work and economy but are hard pushed to even keep up with the traffic these days. As these are clearly pre-war vans, they were powered by the unsupercharged two-stroke engine that intrigued me so long ago and sparked my interest in these odd machines. The 12 HP rating is probably the RAC calculated figure although how this taxation rating, based on the bore of the engine, was applied to a split twin two stroke is anybody's guess.

From what people tell me, in today's terms these two-strokes engines were not that economical and when the Perkins P3 3 cylinder diesel option became available after the war it was almost a universal fitment

The looks, though, encourage the hotrodders among us (well me) to contemplate souping one up but these later machines are incredibly rare now and it would be a shame to hop one up. Still, wwoooaarrggghhh, though eh?

Now I know why the Trojan mascot looks so glum

There are other vans illustrated on this poster, which in itself must be a very rare thing, varying from grocer's vans to floats for bottled water but I think these are the two best examples. One thing I am not clear about is who constructed the special bodies. They look well designed and may have come form the Trojan factory itself, which offered a broad range of bodies.

These images are a bit poor quality because they are photos of a Trojan poster mounted behind glass at the Launceston Steam Railway. It's a fascinating place to visit and I whole-heartedly recommend it, if only for this little oasis of Trojan information.