Rambles Through a Motoring Life by Roger Bateman
To call Roger Bateman a car enthusiast is an understatement. Completely captivated by motor cars since childhood, his book spans 73 years. An automobile engineering graduate, Roger worked in Canada before building a career in England. He was Manager of The National Motor Museum at Beaulieu for 16 years and then spent a further 8 years managing Fiennes Restoration, the top pre-war Rolls-Royce & Bentley specialists. In addition he has worked for Firestone, Volkswagen, Audi, Peugeot, Thatcham, Hertz and NG kit cars.
His story is told through his experiences of working in the motor industry, the people he has met and literally hundreds of vehicles. These include his own cars, those that passed through his hands at Fiennes such as the Woolf Barnato Bentley 4.25 litre, the entire Beaulieu museum collection, and driving Nick Mason’s Ferrari F40.
Roger started driving a Bond Minicar 3-wheeler at age sixteen and has owned and restored 28 classic cars, including designing and building a unique 1935 Bentley 3.5 litre Special. He has owned a 1937 Riley Kestrel for 36 years which has been used as daily transport. The culmination is the restoration of a second Bond, giving rise to the title of the book. His story includes brief sorties into classic boats and vintage aeroplanes too.
Paperback 234 x 156mm with 250 pages and 156 photographs