What would you do with a Free Car that Never Runs out of Gas?
By Pasadena Independent
Published: Thursday, July 16th, 2009
South Pasadena’s Hilary McHone Drove East, Got Hitched
South Pasadena’s Hilary McHone has just returned from an extended elopement, hitting the road and marrying her fiancé whom she has been dating for the past year. She met him, as do many these days, in the vast, fish-filled oceans of the Internet. On Tuesday, after a three-day road trip all the way from Pasadena, the couple was married at Lookout Mountain’s “ Lover’s Leap”, located in the Great Smokey Mountains along the Georgia-Tennessee boarder. But the couple didn’t do it alone. Instead, you might say this cross-country marital endeavor had a corporate sponsor all its own.
That’s because McHone is participating in a nationwide marketing project with Ford, wherein a few lucky drivers are loaned brand new, fully maintained – even fully fueled – European Ford Fiestas for six months to try out on the Hummer-dominated, American roads. So just how did she get this deal? Well, simple really – she entered on online contest. More than 4,000 applications were submitted, with an excess of 640,000 views of applicant videos on YouTube. Yes, apparently some of those online contests are for real.
We caught up with McHone Friday afternoon during a quick pit stop at Wondries Ford in Alhambra. No major repairs were needed, just a new set of tires (courtesy of Ford Motor Co., of course) that she required after burning up the roadways the past few weeks – not to mention across the country and back.
The bubbly Hilary said she loves her car, which is lime green and came complete with tasteful polka dot accents. She loves it so much, in fact, that she even designed her wedding gown to match the color of the Fiesta.
Dress not enough? How about the wedding’s theme: Fiesta green, of course! Just about everything for the wedding, from her dress and bouquet to the announcements and invitation, were handmade to match the “squeeze” green color of her Fiesta.
As part of the social media-intensive marketing initiative that Ford calls “The Fiesta Movement”, 100 young trendsetters, of whom Hilary is but one, are test driving and living with a Fiesta for six months, traveling effectively as advertising agents for Ford as they’re dispatched on special “missions”.
In addition to these “missions”, Fiesta drivers may also decide to take it one step further and engage in activities in addition to their monthly missions, like McHone has done with her elopement trip.
Then, through Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and a host of other social media outlets, the drivers relate their experiences to would-be car buyers all over the world. McHone said that the deal was “incredible” and “too good to pass up.”
Yes, for Hilary it’s a rather sweet deal indeed. Travel, which she loves, combined with photography and writing about her experiences has made the experience more than enjoyable for McHone.
Interestingly enough, Hilary, 35, only just recently got her driving license. A recent transplant from Brooklyn, 
NY, McHone is new to California’s compulsory car culture.
Not crazy enough for you? How about this? To celebrate their nuptials, the bride and groom went hang-gliding below Lookout Mountain following the mountaintop ceremony.
You can learn more about Hillary’s trip and continue to follow her progress by visiting her Wedding Trip Blog, located at hilaryandrickgethitched.blogspot.com
By Terry Miller & John Stephens
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