T.O.C. Newsbrief - March 2010

Hello once again TOC members, its already that time again for another monthly update. Again your feedback always appreciated. Thanks for this last months is given to David Crossley, Chris Piercy, Carl Tantum , Bob Adams & Derrick Graham.

NEW MEMBER, FURTHER COMMUNICATION FROM NEW ZEALAND

You may recall I included a superb communication re the Trojan pickup from Janice Moore. Janice is subsequently joining the club. I must apologise to Janice as I mistakenly advised that Janice was Australian, rather than correctly from New Zealand. I hope this is accepted. This is Janice's latest communication:

" Hi, thanks for your reply, my dad, (his name was Dave Chittock), took wonderful care of his collection. The Trojan was probably the vehicle that needed the least work on it to get back on road, always under cover, it's very original. Lucky me, but she's always been special. He was very good with all types of machinery, very mechanically minded, he loved fixing things up. He and my brother restored a 1917 Ford TT truck, and my sister and him restored a Ford New Beauty car. He did a lot of ploughing in his his younger years, won lots of cups for it, did a lot of vintage ploughing as well. He has a few tractors, ploughs, cletrac dozers and 2 Ton caterpillar etc as well. I learnt to drive in a 1942 Ford V8 truck, our farm hack! Dad was a lover of all things vintage, don't think he had any great dislikes. The only problem I have now is trying to work out how much to insure her for. Got her down at $10000 NZ at the moment. How do you value a vehicle like this? Would any of your NZ members have any ideas?"

COMMITTEE VACANCIES

With the AGM up and coming in April at the RAF Museum Hendon, the Club is still seeking nominations for committee positions. I again mention with the standing down of David Hambleton our current editor and no potential replacement. This will be a very serious shortcoming for the new committee to have to deal with. All suggestions are welcomed and encouraged please. Having contacts in various other clubs this problem of volunteers seems to be a consistent problem. Perhaps its the busy lifestyle we all seem to lead always something to do which can take priority over the TOC.

RECENT COMMITTEE MEETING

Just to let you know there was committee meeting recently held as usual at Carl's son's home at Bordon. The meeting had a full agenda and was well attended . Please be aware that committee members travel large distances to provide a service to the club.

TROJANS ON THE INTERNET

For those that may be inclined to take a look it is always surprising what you can find browsing on the web. Searching 'www.YouTube.Com' the other I day found various length videos of chain drive Trojans, including 'Can you Afford to Walk' . Searches on Trojan MCC trials, Trojan Bristol motor club, Trojan Allen Trial should reveal the footage. Most have interesting sound recordings of the engine working hard. At some point I will ask Nigel to add some links to the website!.

TROJANS IN TRIALS

For Steve Potter and John Wilton it seems that it has recently been the height of the Trialing season for them. They have both taken part in the following events, Cotswold Clouds Trial, March Hare Trial and this week will compete in the Stroud Motor Club, Mechanics Trial, followed by the Torbay Trial one week later and then the MCC Lands End Trial at Easter, busy I think!

IRISH TROJAN

Calling member Mr Bergin in Eire, can we have an update of the Trojan restoration please. Hopefully its progressing OK and we would like to update the website and publish photos in the mag!!!

CHRIS TORDOFFS PH ENGINE

Chris asked if I would take a quick look at his engine when we attended the recent committee meeting. He had reported to me that he felt the condition was good and he was hoping that minimal work was required to refurbish it. Following inspection I could confirm that all the bearings and shaft looked new and unused and just few stuck piston rings would need freeing off, a good result for Chris I feel.

CRACKED CYLINDER BLOCKS ON PH ENGINES

The age old problem of water leaking from casting cracks on PH type engines has asserted itself on two engines that my brother runs in his Trojan. This is unfortunate as both engines are in extremely good order. We need to put our head together to find a repair solution to this. This fault has generally rendered blocks as unusable in the past.

TROJAN 'PH' ENGINE EXHAUST SILENCERS

Its always suprising what comes up in the Trojan world. Chris Tordoff was able to find a manufacturer's name tag on his old unsound silencer. Following some investigation, he found the manufacturer 'Servais' still existed. A visit to them determined that they still had the drawings and tooling for these silencers ... amazing! Chris subsequently placed an order and duly received the finished article which is superb.

Question? Is any body interested in purchasing one? If so the Club will order a small batch. So far we have interest from Carl Tantum, Steve Potter, John Wilton, myself. These silencers can be used with a small mod to the inlet for XL and PH engined cars. The cost needs to be finalised but will be approximately £100.

Hope the above is of interest.

Regards, Phil