Further to our post about Jimena’s fist radio, we find our friends over at TioJimeno publishing an article on the village’s first car. The orginal article appeared in the local magazine called El P@seo, which in turn was the successor to Tio Jimeno, a labour of love by Ricardo Gómez and yet a feisty paper predecessor of what is today Jimena’s ‘blog of reference’. The story goes back to 1934 and was told to Práxedes Gómez by Maestro Zarza, both departed. But back to the first car: the Ford arrived in the village in 1918 at the hands of a man from Ronda who went by the name of Guancho
and was kept in the courtyard of Marina’s flour mill, which was owned by the father of D. Juan Marina, a well-loved doctor in the village. The mill was until recently the property of Antonio Cuenca and can still be seen looking very forlorn opposite the Ruiz Galán supermarket. But unfortunately, the car burst into flames there and although it was put out quickly, Mr. Guancho left town and never returned.
The second car to arrive in Jimena was a seven-seater Nash, which arrived under the auspices of a taxi driver from Algeciras. It came via La Almoraima, over dirt tracks and fields, crossing the Hozgarganta River and getting stuck in the sand and needing a team of oxen to remove it. The journey continued splendidly until arriving at the bridge just by the Convento (or Santuario de Nuestra Señora Reina de los Ángeles), where the car was found to fit very tightly between the guard rails on either side. This bridge, which we all take for granted as we leave the village, was not widened until 1982.
TioJimeno’s story, written in the first person, goes on to say. “This journey took place on the eve of that year’s Novena and we stayed in Jimena until the fiesta was over. A lot of people came to Estación from Jimena on foot or on horseback and I saw a business opportunity right there. The journey back to Algeciras had us sitting in the car but carried by railway.
“Four years later, when I was 16 but without a driving licence, I had the chance to take that business opportunity in hand. A friend of the time called Luis had an uncle who owned a luxury Uson seven-seater convertible, which we were lucky enough to borrow. We put it on the train with a barrel of petrol and departed to Jimena with the village’s third car. It was close to the Novena again.
“I drove and Luis took the money, the price being double what the horse carriages charged and business was good throughout the fiesta. When it was over, we had made 300 pesetas, a fortune at the time. The car went back to Algeciras by train.
“When I was 18, Luis and I brought in Jimena’s fourth car, a Ford van with ten seats, and started a regular run between Jimena and Estación. Shortly after, a man they called ‘Lorenzo the coachman’ brought in another car very much like ours.”
No Comments Yet