When you’re hitchhiking, you pay attention to cars. After all, you’re spending all day begging them to stop for you. Some of them are just…OK. But others, wow! Here are a few from Just One Little Hitch.
1954 Sunbeam Talbot MK IIA. Mungo and the author scooted around Cornwall in a bad boy like this one.1970 Vauxhall Viva. This is just like the one in which the author got a ride from two young women from Wales, Gwyn and Jane, from Cordoba to Madrid to Burgos.1964 Daimler Majestic Major. The owner gave Mark Orwoll a lift in this beautiful sedan at the edge of Dartmoor and took him for a memorable ale session at The Wounded Soldier.1975 Ford Cortina (English-made; notice the right-hand drive). Jack and Jackie, the sweet nouveau-riche couple who picked up the author in Devon, England, were very proud of their Cortina.1976 Citroën GS 1220 Club Estate. Geoff and Mal, two bonzer blokes from Oz, carried the author of Just One Little Hitch through southern Spain and Morocco in a car like this (only yellower).1976 Mercedes-Benz W123. A beautiful German woman stopped for Mark Orwoll in Western France in this powerful luxury car. The only drawback? She was with her boyfriend at the time.1963 Leyland Constructor. Leaving Dover, the author got a lift in a fuel tanker, similar to this one, from a driver who was seemingly unaware that he was pulling a potential fireball just inches behind his head.1970s-era Citroën Deux Chevaux. One of these stopped for the author while leaving Spain, just before it ran out of gas. (The author suspects that the driver knew he was about to run out of fuel, and picked up a hitchhiker to help push when it happened.)Morris Minor. This was the British equivalent of a VW Beetle, the people’s car, small, clunky, and underpowered. What more could you ask for?Mule cart. Not every vehicle that stopped for Mark Orwoll was an actual car. Leaving Seville for Cordoba, Spain, he got a ride in a mule wagon similar to this one. Main difference? Orwoll’s ride had no seats, requiring a passenger to balance on the posts attached to the drooling beast’s harness.
