Seven Years with Samantha: Around the World in a Vintage Austin Seven by Clive Ball soon to be presented for sale on the special BookLovers of Bath web site!
Published: Cambridge: Patrick Stephens, 1974, Hardback in dust wrapper.
Contains: Black & white photographs; Maps; Maps to the endpapers and blanks; Chapter headpieces;
From the cover: Clive Ball discovered Samantha, a little 1929 Austin Seven, lying battered in a barn and, while he was rebuilding her, hit upon the idea of driving her round the world. Leaving Britain in 1965, Clive drove over some of the worst roads imaginable, his ready sense of humour carrying him through danger from bandits on the Khyber Pass, infuriating red-tape at war-torn frontiers, and an almost absurd concours delephants in India until, ten months after he had waved goodbye to the white cliffs of Dover, he reached Western Australia. His projected six-month stay stretched into three-and-a-half years, during which time he met Sheila his wife-to-be.
In 1970 the couple set off, via New Zealand, for Canada where they worked for nine months before starting out on their journey to South America. Here they met with more danger, hilarity and adventure, returning to Britain in 1972. Clive and Samantha had covered 48,000 miles and visited 38 countries, on one of the longest and most ambitious journeys ever undertaken in such an old car.
This book is packed with incidents, anecdotes and perceptive portraits, and is well-illustrated with both photographs and sketches. It makes truly compulsive reading and will appeal to the adventurer and armchair traveller alike, apart from Austin Seven devotees!
Very Good in Good Dust Wrapper. Dust wrapper a little age toned. Price Clipped. Previous owners’ name to the first blank. Text complete, clean and tight otherwise.
Blue boards with Gilt titling to the Spine. 247 pages. 8¾” x 5½”.
Of course, if you don’t like this one, may I woo you with the cream of the crop in my Travel catalogue?
- seven years with samantha around the world in a vintage austin seven clive ball patrick stephens 0850591686
- seven years with samantha clive ball patrick stephens 0850591686 b
- seven years with samantha clive ball patrick stephens 0850591686 c