Your classic: Austin 12/4

| 28 Nov 2025

I blame the Gumdrop books by Val Biro (below) – those tales were read to me by my mum when I was a child.

They lingered long in the memory, and last year I started a new chapter of my own when I acquired a 1929 Austin 12/4 Burnham, my very own Gumdrop.

My girlfriend, Nadia, and I soon became acquainted with various aspects of vintage motoring. The education began immediately, as I drove the car back from buying it in Fowey, Cornwall.

Val Biro’s books introduced budding enthusiasts to the adventures of vintage motoring

This Boxing Day trip was a steep learning curve: the starting procedure, the Autovac fuel supply, the advance/retard lever and the crash gearbox, which took more than a little finessing to gel with.

Back at home, this 95-year-old car fascinated the children, who were surprised that it was capable enough to use daily around our small town – Tavistock – for local trips.

I soon began planning something more fun we could all get involved in.

Before long, I had joined the Vintage Sports-Car Club and applied to participate in the Exmoor Fringe Trial.

Matthew and the Brock bouncers assemble, ready for their first trial in the Austin 12/4

I had sent my entry in a little late, so we were on the provisional list, but 10 days before the event an email arrived confirming our participation.

Having never competed in any such competition before, the crew – Nadia plus our three kids, all commandeered as ‘bouncers’ for the event – and I were totally fresh to the experience.

An Austin 12/4 saloon is certainly not a natural trials car, so altogether we made up a rather unlikely entry.

The next step was to apply for a ‘buff form’ to verify the originality, or otherwise, of the Austin and hence determine into which category we would be entered.

Nerves were high at the start of the VSCC’s Exmoor Fringe Trial, but the Austin 12/4 didn’t let Matthew and his family down

As the day drew nearer, a few small additions and mods were made to OU 2591 to satisfy scrutineering.

The morning of the trial was an early start; we decided to drive to and from the event, which is not the norm.

Chugging through the foggy, sleepy rural Devon landscape up to Exmoor was memorable in itself.

Trialling was originally intended to prove the capabilities of road cars, and having a vintage car, in its original state, driven to and from the event felt to me to be very much in the spirit of things.

‘Driving a vintage car, in its original state, to and from the event felt to me very much in the spirit of things’

I just had to make sure we were able to get home at the end of the day as well as give a solid account of ourselves on the course. No pressure, then!

At scrutineering the team lined up beside the Austin, and after a series of checks we were given our competition number.

There was a sense of pride in passing, but also trepidation as the stickers were applied to the bodywork.

We lined up for the first hill with excitement and tension building among all of us, then I fed in the clutch and off we went.

Vintage enthusiasts in the making

What the car lacks in power and agility, it made up for in traction and, from us, enthusiasm – particularly the bouncers in the back.

The 12/4 was totally dependable, with the only mishap occurring when the exhaust was wrenched from its mountings at the back by the rugged Exmoor mud when we were reversing out of one of the bumpier sections.

What we discovered on that trip, besides the spectacular scenery, was a wonderfully welcoming atmosphere of comradeship among our fellow enthusiasts.

The Austin 12/4, ready to roll through rural Devon

We all had great fun, and it has certainly sowed the seeds for participation in future events.

The budding bouncers will soon be old enough to drive the course themselves – the minimum age is 14 – and it’s pleasing to see the passion towards vintage cars from the next generation.

This dad had better get practicing his bouncing from the back seat.

Next we’re planning to take the Austin to France in the school holidays. I’d like to think Val Biro himself would have approved.

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