The Troll was a small

car A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

manufactured by Troll Plastik & Bilindustri of

Lunde Lunde may refer to: People Politics * Gulbrand Lunde (1901–1942), Norwegian councillor of state in the Nasjonal Samling government * Heidi Nordby Lunde (born 1973), Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party * Jens Lunde (1884–1974), Nor ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

, 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 Two Two (투투) was a Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern ...

sports car A sports car is a car designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving and racing capability. Sports cars originated in Europe in the early 1900s and are currently produced by ...

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 clo ...

body, with the intention to build the first non-

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

fibreglass car. In the US,

Chevrolet Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and ous ...

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 slo ...

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 Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes (up and down movements) of the piston during one power cycle, this power cycle being comple ...

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 an artificial 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 The Gutbrod Superior is a small car, built from 1950 until 1954 by German manufacturer Gutbrod. A total of 6,860 cabriolet saloons and 866 estates were built in less than four years. History In November 1949, a pilot series of the cabriole ...

, 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 an injector. This article focuses on fuel injection in reciprocating piston and Wankel rotary engines. All comp ...

connected to a three-speed Hurth

transmission Transmission may refer to: Medicine, science and technology * Power transmission ** Electric power transmission ** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power *** Automatic transmission *** Manual 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 Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

engine instead, which were never implemented.

History

Development

The Troll was developed by

businessman A businessperson, 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 or industrial) for th ...

Per Kohl-Larsen and engineers Bruno Falck and Erling Fjugstad, and designed by

Hans Trippel Hans Trippel (1908 - 2001) was a German industrial designer, responsible for the designs of the, Trippel SG6 Mercedes-Benz Gullwing's door and the Amphicar. Trippel was born on 19 July 1908 in the Darmstadt area and died 30 July 2001, in 64711 Er ...

. 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 #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

Citroën Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

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 ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distingu ...

treaty Norway had with the

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and

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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 is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

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, with requests from other countries like

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. 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 In economics, capital goods or capital are "those durable produced goods that are in turn used as productive inputs for further production" of goods and services. At the macroeconomic level, "the nation's capital stock includes buildings, eq ...

necessary for large-scale production. When the Nowegian 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