The dream of Troll - Terje's cars

A well-used Troll that is now kept at the Norwegian Road Museum. The roof of this car was built up because the owner was unusually tall, it is said. The car was put away after the gearbox/differential got stuck along the road. This can become drivable again - if the museum so wishes.

I am fascinated by entrepreneurs. When others say: "This is impossible!", the founders go to work and refute the claim. Well, maybe not always – but they do tried. That is why I am fascinated by the car project in Telemark. The cars were not the strange things. Not very beautiful, and not very impressive screwed together, in terms of fit on doors, hoods and the like. What arouses curiosity is history. What actually happened? I have seen Troll on display at car shows several times, - always accompanied by posters with a text - a little story - often linked to one car, one owner, one place. Interesting – but it was far from it whole the story.

"The dream of TROLL"

The book, written by Paal Kvamme, is a thorough documentary account of everything related to the Troll project. We get the life story of the Troll car's founder, Per Kohl-Larsen, the Norwegian-German professor's son who started a coffee plantation in Africa, married a Norwegian woman with whom he eventually had six children, was drawn into the war on the German side, brought his family up to Norway, established contacts with a German microcar constructor and established himself in Lunde in Telemark to start production of a Norwegian car brand.

The book's author, Paal Kvamme, has done thorough research to be able to explain the whole story of the Troll project. Among other things, he has contacted Per Kohl-Larsen's descendants and other people who have been involved in Troll in the fifties and onwards. He has tracked down documents and correspondence between Kohl-Larsen, authorities, banks and others. I find the contact between Kohl-Larsen and Einar Gerhardsen particularly interesting.

How Norwegian was Troll really?

The book follows Kohl-Larsen to small car manufacturers in post-war Germany. Car brands that have long since disappeared from the market - or that never managed to establish themselves. A car entrepreneur who starts with two empty hands depends on having a network of contacts to gain access to knowledge and components. Kohl-Larsen, who spoke perfect German and knew German manners, had a great advantage. Troll's most important partner was to be Gutbrod, which among other things produced its own cars. Gutbrod Superior was a tiny 2-seater of around 3,5 meters with a roll-down roof, like the Fiat 500 and Citroen 2CV. Between 1950-54, Gutbrod produced a total of 7726 Superior cars – a decent number. It was from this model that Kohl-Larsen was to have the drivetrain and frame/chassis delivered to Troll. The frame had to be extended a few centimeters. All that then remained was to stretch the electrical system, cast the fiberglass bodywork, fit fixtures and wheels. Roughly speaking, this was what could be characterized as Norwegian-produced.

Gutbrod Superior on Wikipedia

Could Troll have been saved?

This is a question I am left with after reading the book. The book's documentary presentation leaves room for one's own speculations. Kohl-Larsen felt that the project was badly treated by the authorities. My opinion, based on the book, is that the authorities' treatment of Kohl-Larsen and the Troll project was as one would expect, - and that there was no way to put a stick in the wheels either from central or local authorities.

Purchase permit subject to reservation

Kohl-Larsen eventually received permission to build 200 cars that could be sold without a purchase permit - only a proforma registration permit from the Swedish Road Administration was necessary. There was little indication that the politicians would lift general restrictions with regard to car purchases - even if it applied to Norwegian-made cars. The fact that the car sale was not released must have put a stop to raising capital. Even within the car industry of the time, there was not much capital to raise - only a handful of orders. I think that if the authorities had relaxed the buyer restrictions - made an exception for Norwegian-made cars - perhaps Kohl-Larsen could have managed to get investors on board.

No state support

Kohl-Larsen wanted state support for the project – a question I have also asked myself – before i read the book. The impression by having read the book, is that the project would hardly have been entitled to such support. I am left with the impression that the team behind Troll was very far from real production plans in terms of building and organizing a larger factory. What should the state actually provide support for? Moreover, there were quite a few signs that the cars were not suitable for profitable production on a large scale?

Wrong technology?

I found it interesting to read about the businessman Edward Sejerstedt Bødtger which, according to the book, "wanted to get Kohl-Larsen to replace the Gutbrod machinery with a more powerful engine from Panhard." In the fifties there were two "schools" of building light and cheap vehicles. Small two-stroke engines such as the two-cylinder Gutbrod engine, - or 2-cylinder, air-cooled boxer engines of the type found in, for example, the 2CV - and in the larger Panhards. Both are simple and affordable engine designs with their advantages and disadvantages. Another interesting piece of information was that Sejerstedt Bødtger had an agency for Panhard in Norway through his company DNA (Det norske Automobilkonsern). Why didn't these lovely cars get a better foothold in the 50s car market?

The Troll story continues

All the cars are explained in the book. What happened to them and where they are today. This applies to all four that were made at the factory, as well as the three unfinished chassis. One of them was used to build a great Troll half-brother based on the original fiberglass molds after the Troll project was discontinued. The car builder was telemarketing Harald Aspheim. Did he build the finest Trollcar?

The quest to trace the history of the remaining cars has presented problems. On one of the cars, which is currently at the Norwegian Road Museum in Lillehammer, it has not been possible to trace any chassis number, although the car is said to have been given two different numbers over time. Yesterday I read on Trollboken's Facebook page that persistent detective work has finally yielded results. You can follow the story further on Facebook.

The magic book on Facebook

Christmas gift tips!

Whenever one or more Trollcars are exhibited somewhere, they are "always" closely surrounded by chattering old men like myself. The story of Troll interests many. The dream about TROLL is about car history, local history, a bit of Norwegian history. There was no industrial adventure. Just a good story.