Very old immigrant
‘You shouldn’t transplant old trees’, goes the saying. With this Austin Twelve-Four, that has not been taken to heart. Less than three years ago, this now 87-year-old old-timer came this way to make our roads a little more beautiful.
In ‘In the Wild’ we usually focus on cars from the 60s, 70s and 80s, simply because the largest number of classics to be found on the street come from that time. Very occasionally something from the 50s passes by, but even older is very rare. Now it’s that time again, thanks to AutoWeek forum member JFR. He spotted this nice Austin Twelve-Four on the side of the road. Built in 1936, it is not the oldest car ever in this section, but it is certainly among the oldest.
It seems that the Twelve-Four, like the Volvo 144 from recently, couldn’t escape a large cloud of pollen, although it could also just be a layer of dust from the garage. After all, this Austin probably only comes out when it’s time for a nice ride in good weather. There is no lack of good weather at the moment, so that makes a difference. If we look through the filth, there is a neat car that has undoubtedly been refurbished from head to toe somewhere in its long existence.
Austin Twelve-Four.
Such an Austin Twelve-Four, also written as 12/4, is probably an unknown car to many. Not just because of his age. Here in the Netherlands we have known the necessary Austins over the years, but most of them have probably fallen into oblivion after the Mini, Glider, Allegro, Maestro, Metro and Princess. The Twelve-Four was a fairly conventional mid-sized car and, as its name indicated, a (much) bigger brother of the immensely popular Austin Seven. The 12 stood for the fiscal class to which it belonged and the 4 for the number of cylinders. So in the nose is a four-cylinder, a 1.6-liter to be precise, good for an output of 28 hp. So you shouldn’t be in a hurry, previously the Twelve-Four even had a version of this engine that delivered 24 hp. In 1937, just after the one you see here rolled off the production line, the Twelve-Four got quite a metamorphosis and some more curves were added to the design.
As mentioned, this Austin has only been in the Netherlands for less than three years and it still belongs to the person who registered it here. A special choice to go for this Austin and of course worth a big compliment for brightening up the street scene.
.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl