Herbert Austin's Heavy Twelve-Four

Here we have the story behind the model’s introduction, contemporary press reports, early advertisements, from the first brochures issued up to 1934-35, the various body styles available. Those which were exported as chassis to New Zealand and Australia and then bodied locally are also included. The taxicabs have a section to themselves, as does the different coachwork available from various coachbuilders – including the work they undertook during the war.

When many cabs dating from the thirties were pensioned off in the early fifties, they took on many other roles, and Jim details some of them. Separate chapters are reserved for 12/4s which have earned their own special place in the Austin Twelve’s history; these include “Peggy”, the cab featured in the film Carry on Cabby, and “Gumdrop”, the tourer immortalised by the late Val Biro.