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There have been literally millions of words
written about the Austin 7, but very few about the other cars produced
by the factory
Everyone I meet seems to have had something to do with a Austin 7 sometime
in their life, even I own one, it is a nice little 1937 Open road tourer,we
call him Gumpy
I also restored a 1928 Chummy called Buttercup
but I also have two 12/4 Austins. One is a 1929 saloon and the
other is a 1928 Open Road tourer
Besides the Veteran cars, the larger vintage Austins started
with the Austin Twenty
However the Austin 12/4 went into production in 1922 and continued,
in Taxi form long after the seven ceased production in 1939
The early cars had 2 wheel brakes a narrow chassis and wheel base. The
3 models of Austin produced by the factory all went from 2 wheel to
4 wheel brakes in 1925
You can click here to read the announcement in "The
Motor" in September 1924. The new braking system was described as
being "simple", but the description is anything but!
I really have no idea how anyone was expected to understand
it, even if you know how it really does work it is hard to follow
The early cars also had a short stroke motor and the later ones had
the stroke lengthened. All long stroke motors have " L" stamped
after the serial number.
The cylinder heads also changed, the very early cars had a
low compression head. I am unsure of when the heads changed but I am
certain that someone will email me and let me know. I suspect it may
have only been for the first couple of years while the motor had roller
rockers Photos showing the different heads
are available here.
In August 1928 the factory produced the 16/6 model. This was
a 6 cylinder car with the same body as the 12/4, the same internals
in the gearbox. The motor was squeezed into the same space under the
bonnet and it was such a tight fit that the timing chain was put at
the back of the motor. The 16/6 had wire wheels which then became a
optional extra for the 12/4
I do not profess to be an expert on the 12/4 model but hopefully
these pages will shed some knowledge about the cars and the forum will
allow questions to be asked so that the information on various aspects
will be of help to us all
I will over a time try and get articles onto this site and
if anyone has any helpful information on the model, please contact me
for inclusion here. There is a hints & tips
page so any useful tips would be welcome
If you have restored or own a 12/4 send me the details and
photos and we can put it up here for all to share. Even if it a Austin
of any model and you would like to keep us up to date with your work
we can keep an eye on your progress here
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