Val Biro

Gumdrop is the name of an Austin Clifton Heavy Twelve-Four of 1926, the title character of a series of books authored by Val Biro, who owned an example. The stories revolve around the car and his owner, initially the younger Bill McArran, but for most of the series, the more senior Mr Oldcastle (later joined by a dog, Horace). The plots often involve the search for replacement parts for Gumdrop. Biro wrote the stories from the late 1960s to the 1980s. The main series of books, all fully illustrated in colour by Biro, ran to at least seventeen titles, with a further twelve (at least) "Gumdrop Little Books" also published in the 1980s. Whilst Gumdrop's adventures are fictional, the car is not. Biro and Gumdrop were frequent visitors to car shows and other events in Sussex and surrounding area. Biro was seen driving Gumdrop in the television documentary 100 Year Old Drivers, broadcast on ITV on 13 August 2014, shortly after Biro's death.

In the 1950s and 1960s Biro illustrated many book covers for famous authors such as Nigel Tranter and Nevil Shute (Requiem for a Wren, Round the Bend, The Far Country and Beyond the Black Stump). For C.S. Forester, publishing with Michael Joseph, Biro made cover illustrations of several first editions: Mr. Midshipman Hornblower, Lieutenant Hornblower, Hornblower and the Atropos, Hornblower in the West Indies and Randall and the River of Time. In 1965 for Hamish Hamilton he illustrated the first edition of Angler's Moon by Leo Walmsley. He also illustrated covers for Radio Times.

Balint Stephen Biro (Budapest, October 6, 1921 – July 4, 2014) was a children's author, artist and illustrator. He received his education in Budapest and London. His studio was located in Amersham in Buckinghamshire.