Trojan Mini-Motor

„The story begins in Italy, for our purposes, in 1946. Vincenti Piatti had designed a 50cc engine unit for driving portable lathes and also foresaw the possibilities of this engine power-assisting a bicycle - the Mini Motore. Italy was suffering the results of six years of war and there was a huge demand for cheap personal transport, fuel being scarce and expensive.

In 1948, George Murray Denton was holidaying in Switzerland and, as he recalled in an article in Classic Bike in 1985, "...I followed a cyclist who not only free-wheeled downhill but shot uphill with no loss of speed and with only occasional pedalling. There was a device behind the saddle which emitted blue smoke and a noise like a bored-out wasp. It was an Italian Mini Motore." On his return to England, George found that Trojan of Croydon - remember their two-stroke Brooke Bond Tea vans? - were making them under licence for sale in the UK.

George later became Sales Manager of Trojan and reckoned that, by the time sales were overtaken by the more technically advanced Cyclemaster in 1951, over 100,000 must have been sold.”

From http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk

The Mini-Motor was introduced in Great Britain by Trojan company, cars and vans manufacturer. They had built their first prototype car as early as 1910, but they didn't start mass production. Instead, Leyland Motors used their car in modified form and marketed under Utility name in 1922. In 1935 Trojan introduced a high-end car named Mastra, but it wasn't very succesful, so the production was abandoned two years later.

In 1949 Trojan started to manufacture Mini-Motor cycle engines. Soon these engine kits became very popular. Trojan Mini-Motor was mounted above rear wheel and it was driving the tire with a roller (the roller could be lifted up, when needed). The unit could drive a bicycle at 30 mph.

Mini-Motor was adapted to other purposes as well. Trojan used to sell very similar engines for lawn-movers and other devices (to the left). In 50s, the company produced simultaneously engines and several types of vans. They planned to introduce their own moped, too, but only a prototype was built; the boom was over, before it was completed.