Angular distributions of the reactions 12C(160, 160)12C and lZC(160, 12C)160 have been measured in the angular range OfOcM=lO~ ~ at 65 and 80 MeV to ground states and excited states of both final nuclei. An optical model with/-dependent imaginary potential gives no consistent description of the elastic scattering data. It is shown, however, that the forward angle elastic scattering may be described by strongly absorbing potentials and that the backward rise of the cross sections in both the elastic and inelastic transitions can be explained by a four nucleon transfer 12C(160, 12C)160,