Motor enthusiast Trevor Walker is causing a stir with his latest contraption - a petrol-powered bicycle.

He bought the Trojan mini-motor as a teenager in 1970 and 36 years later he's just got around to getting it on the road.

"It's an amazing piece of machinery," he said. "I bought it when I was a teenager and my dad wondered what on earth I was doing. I couldn't do a lot with it for a long time because I couldn't get the spares but I've tracked them down now.

"It's basically a bicycle with a petrol tank on the back. A lot of older people find it fascinating because they remember them from the post-war years."

These machines were popular in the 1940s and 1950s when petrol was in short supply. People bought the motor and fitted it to a standard bicycle.

Trevor, 47, of Southlands Avenue, Rawdon, is a forklift truck engineer and loves cars and motorcycles. He owns a number of of unusual machines including nine BSAs, a reliant and a Ford Popular, but it's the 1950 Trojan which is occupying his time at the moment.

"When I bought it I was the only person around who knew what it was," he said. "They were very popular in the 1950s but by 1970 people had forgotten all about them. The arrival of cheap scooters killed them off.

"After I bought it from a sale in Burley-in-Wharfedale it stayed in my dad's garage for 30-odd years. But then in July, 2004, I went to a car rally in Hunslet in Leeds and met someone who was a member of the National Auto Cycle Club, known as the Buzzy Club, which is for people with machines like this.

"I joined and very quickly managed to find the parts I needed and I bought a 1950s bicycle to put it on."

It works by driving the rear wheel. You pedal, then press a lever and the machine takes over. You could buy them for £22 in the 1950s and you fitted it to a bicycle yourself.

e-mail: steve.teale@bradford.newsquest.co.uk