Seven Years with Samantha: Around the World in a Vintage Austin 7

First Edition. Signed by Author. 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 tribesmen on the Khyber Pass, infuriating red tape at war-torn frontiers, and an almost absurd ‘concours d’elephants’ in India until, nine 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 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, crossing the mighty Andes four times, once at nearly 16,000 feet, and returned to Britain in 1972. Clive and Samantha had covered 48,000 miles, visiting 38 countries on one of the longest and most ambitious journeys ever undertaken in such an old vehicle.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! Over the years since this book was first published, it has become a sought-after classic in vintage car and travel circles alike. 247 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm. Maps on lining papers #0921 (Prev ownership name)

The Austin 7 is an economy car that was produced from 1923 until 1939 in the United Kingdom by Austin. It was nicknamed the “Baby Austin” and was at that time one of the most popular cars produced for the British market and sold well abroad. … The first BMW car, the BMW Dixi, was a licensed Austin 7.

The Austin 7, when it was first introduced in 1922, represented the freedom of the open road, the ability to go to places you simply couldn’t get to on public transport, it was the opening up of a whole new world for people who could afford one. It was sort of like Britain’s equivalent of the American Model T Ford, except a little smaller, and a little cheaper to run, but still loads of fun.

Austin Seven automobile