The Troll was a small

car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one billio ...

manufactured by Troll Plastik & Bilindustri of Lunde,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, from 1956 to 1958. It was one of a few attempts at car production in Norway, and only five cars were built.

Design

The Troll was built as a 2+2

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

with a

fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass c ...

body, with the intention to build the first non- American

mass-produced Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. ...

fibreglass car. In the US,

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ) is an American automobile division of the manufacturer General Motors (GM). In North America, Chevrolet produces and sells a wide range of vehicles, from subcompact automobiles to medium-duty commercial trucks. Due to the promi ...

made its

Corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

in fibreglass, but no one in Europe had built cars in plastic, except for the East German Trabant, which was also a 2-cylinder

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...

car. Fibreglass was a relatively new material in the late 1950s, but had numerous benefits, notably its inability to

rust Rust is an iron oxide, a usually reddish-brown oxide formed by the reaction of iron and oxygen in the catalytic presence of water or air moisture. Rust consists of hydrous iron(III) oxides (Fe2O3·nH2O) and iron(III) oxide-hydroxide (FeO(OH) ...

and its light weight (being approximately lighter than an equivalent metal-bodied car). The Troll's

chassis A chassis (, ; plural ''chassis'' from French châssis ) is the load-bearing framework of a manufactured object, which structurally supports the object in its construction and function. An example of a chassis is a vehicle frame, the underpart ...

was taken from a Gutbrod Superior, and the body was made longer to fit on it. Gutbrod also manufactured the Troll's engine, which was a two-stroke straight-twin with Bosch

fuel injection Fuel injection is the introduction of fuel in an internal combustion engine, most commonly automotive engines, by the means of a fuel injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All c ...

connected to a three-speed Hurth transmission. The engine produced , propelling the car to a top speed of approximately . The Troll was also capable of 5 litres per 100 km (47 mpg). Due to the complex fuel injection system, there were plans to use a 3-cylinder Saab engine instead, which were never implemented.

History

Development

The Troll was developed by

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

Per Kohl-Larsen and engineers Bruno Falck and Erling Fjugstad, and designed by Hans Trippel. The first car was revealed to the press in October 1956. It was not completely finished, and although the form of the chassis was final, the car could not be driven. This car was later used as a prototype, and many changes were made during later testing. Norwegian and foreign press showed much enthusiasm towards the project, and the car was compared to those from brands like

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

Citroën Citroën ()The double-dot diacritic over the 'e' is a diaeresis () indicating the two vowels are sounded separately, and not as a diphthong. is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded on 4 June 19 ...

and Saab.

Production and bankruptcy

The first Troll was sold to a customer on May 1, 1957. As production commenced, Kohl-Larsen faced difficulty obtaining a permit from the Norwegian government to sell the Troll. He was allowed to sell only 15 cars in Norway, the reason being a

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...

treaty Norway had with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

to buy cars from them as they bought fish products from Norway. As such, the government was afraid that domestic car production would disrupt this trading balance. Kohl-Larsen therefore started plans to export cars to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, with requests from other countries like

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. At one point, the company had plans to build 2,000 cars per year, but settled on one finished car per day afterwards. Troll Plastik & Bilindustri was also unable to secure the investment capital necessary for large-scale production. When the Norwegian government made their lack of support for the Troll clear, all potential investors closed negotiations, resulting in bankruptcy in early 1958.

References

External links

Online.no: The Troll automobile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troll (Automobile) Car manufacturers of Norway Defunct motor vehicle manufacturers of Norway Defunct companies of Norway Cars introduced in 1956 Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1956 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1958 1956 establishments in Norway 1958 disestablishments in Norway