Hounsfield History

How It All Started

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. 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. The Trojan also employed a two-stroke engine; this again was an unorthodox design.

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. Brooke Bond’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.