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Simply foggy
I am old enough to remember the pea-soup fogs that were around in Britain in the 1950s. When I was at art school one trip sticks in my memory, a party of us were going from Guildford to Streatham for an evening`s skating; the fog was awful.
“Try a Trojan – the simplest car in the world”
This all came back to me when in a recent issue of the Trojan Museum Trust’s newsletter I saw an advertisement from The Motor magazine’s March 1927 edition simply headed 'The Trojan in the fog'. Then, in quotes, this item from an onlooker followed. “One very foggy night, a week or so ago, I watched a procession of cars creeping towards a Midlands town at speeds varying between four and eight miles per hour, the leading car being a Trojan. The driver of the car sometimes sat in the driver’s seat, sometimes stood on the running board, and sometimes walked alongside the car, steering with this left hand”. An explanation followed “Those who were driving more conventional cars could not understands how he managed to keep control of the car, especially when walking beside it. To anyone who knows Trojans however the matter is quite clear… The car can be started by pushing the gear lever into first, the driver being outside the car, and when visibility permits it is simple to hop onto the running board and move the gear lever into top and travel along at about 6 miles per hour on the level… For stopping it is necessary to merely move the gear lever from the top back to reverse, which acts as a brake and then forward into control…” The strapline under this ad was “Try a Trojan – the simplest car in the world”.
Words by Michael E Ware.
Published:
Thursday December 17th, 2020
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Comments
Frazer Sloan
17 December 2020, 20:06
David GREEN
17 December 2020, 13:24
It surely has to be the Silver Blades Ice Skating Rink in Streatham, which ran in its original form for 80 years from 1931. I remember going there from Guildford as a schoolboy.
I also knew several Trojan owners at about the same time. Indeed, I went with one to Anglesey and back from Guildford, probably in 1963. Entirely trouble free. But another strap-line I seem to recall was 'Trojan leads the way'. Indeed it did, because all the traffic was behind one, sometimes stretching for a quarter of a mile or more. For the Trojan, the road ahead was always delightfully traffic-free.
It was always difficult to persuade garage owners to put petrol into the bonnet, and then follow it with the oil. I remember particular difficulty at a garage in Beaumaris. Trojan was reputedly the only car manufacturer to advertise in the Church Times. Presumably, it balanced the hedonism of a car against the physical rigours of solid tyres and compulsory manual starting with a long starting handle that could only move through less than a quarter turn.
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I also knew several Trojan owners at about the same time. Indeed, I went with one to Anglesey and back from Guildford, probably in 1963. Entirely trouble free. But another strap-line I seem to recall was 'Trojan leads the way'. Indeed it did, because all the traffic was behind one, sometimes stretching for a quarter of a mile or more. For the Trojan, the road ahead was always delightfully traffic-free.
It was always difficult to persuade garage owners to put petrol into the bonnet, and then follow it with the oil. I remember particular difficulty at a garage in Beaumaris. Trojan was reputedly the only car manufacturer to advertise in the Church Times. Presumably, it balanced the hedonism of a car against the physical rigours of solid tyres and compulsory manual starting with a long starting handle that could only move through less than a quarter turn.
John Bates
17 December 2020, 11:53
In 1962 we had a 'pea souper' of a fog in Birmingham (UK). I was walking near a bus garage on a normally busy road but no vehicles were around. I heard engines approaching and then saw a light. It was swinging around and I judged was higher than a vehicle lamp. As the light came close I could see it was a 'hurricane' (paraffin) lamp held aloft by a police inspector and behind him were three corporation buses plus a long line of other vehicles. As he walked into the bus garage, the buses and the rest of the traffic followed. That would have taken some sorting out!
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I encourage anyone who is interested to reach out to the Trojan Owners Club, who are always ready to share, and assist, with owning one, or even just to try to understand them better.
The Trojan represents, like the Ner-a-car did (made in the same town of Kingston upon Thames) for the motorcycling world, a take on an alternative design, rather than following everyone else, and came up with a very usable product.