WAIL TALE
The starter motor barely has time to register before the engine bursts into life immediately confusing one’s aural reference points. Sure the inherent straight-six smoothness is here but it sounds as if it’s running twice as fast as the idle rpm shown on the rev counter. That’s the first clue. There’s a hard-edged bark to the exhaust note, not dissimilar to a Rolls Royce Eagle, yet the revs rise and fall more suddenly and once out on the road, by the time each 1,700rpm gearchange point arrives, you can forget trucks completely, the exhaust note is pure Austin-Healey 3000! That means it can only be one thing. Possibly the most complex, probably the most charismatic and certainly the most misunderstood lorry engine of its day. The Foden two-stroke.
Foden had its origins in agricultural engineering and Edwin Foden built steam traction engines before embracing new legislation for road transport in 1896 which permitted lorries up to three tons to travel at 12mph without a red flag. Imagine that in London today, being able to attain 12mph!
It would be fair to say that Foden as a marque underwent technical advance in something of a leapfrog manner. Still persevering with
