One nice thing about watching old movies (or movies depicting old times) is that we get to see all those fancy car models from the past - don’t you think?

Here is another way of looking at that. Let’s see what kind of cars people thru ages might have driven. Whether they drove the car themselves or just saw it passing by on the street - here’s what they might have seen. This article is by the way updated from time to time as we find more fancy cars to be depicted.

Anyway, our target group is people in their twenties, or actually, turning 20 during the year in question.

Before the invention of the automobile, we had the horsedriven vehicles - therefore of course the word horsepower which we still use. Powered by one or more horses, stagecoaches and the like allowed greater freedom of movement than the railroad, but were naturally much slower. More horsepower was needed.

The year 1886 is regarded as the birth year of the car when the 41-year old German inventor Karl Benz patented his Benz Patent-Motorwagen.

Karl Benz introduced in 1894 the Velo which became the first large scale production automobile. This car could have been driven or admired by the then 20-year olds: Winston Churchill, Herbert Hoover, Harry Houdini, Guglielmo Marconi and John D. Rockefeller, Jr - among others.

One of the first cars accessible to the masses was the American 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company.

This Hupmobile Model 20 Runabout from 1910 might have been driven by these 20-year olds: Charles de Gaulle, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Rose Fitzgerald (later Kennedy), Stan Laurel, H.P. Lovecraft, Agatha Miller (Christie), among others.

1911 Ford Model T

1913 Studebaker Touring Sedan

1918 Ford Model T. Doesn’t that too look so dandy?! This car could have been driven by the 20-year olds William Costello, Rudolf Dassler, Irene Dunne, Sergei Eisenstein (if he could somehow manage to get one in Russia), George Gerschwin and Gunnar Myrdal, among others born in 1898.

This Ford Model A Tudor Sedan from 1927 could have been driven by these 20-year-olds: Gene Autry, Katherine Hepburn, Frida Kahlo, Astrid Lindgren, Burgess Meredith, James A. Michener,  Laurence Olivier and Orville Redenbacher - to name just a few.

1930 Rolls Royce Phantom 1

1934 Citroen Traction Avant - the first  mass produced car with front-wheel drive (thus the name Avant) might have been given as a birthday present to all these who turned 20 in 1934: Alec Guinness, Thor Heyerdahl, Hedy Lamarr, E.G. Marshall,  Jonas Salk, Jerry Siegel and Richard Widmark - among others.

The 1937 Ford convertible might have been driven by these 20-year-olds: Desi Arnaz, Raymond Burr, Ella Fitzgerald, Henry Ford II, Dean Martin and Irv Robbins - born in 1917. Provided they had a driver’s license.

Then the year after that in 1938, before the outbreak of the Second World War, the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen started manufacturing its Volkswagen Beetle, officially the Volkswagen Type 1. It eventually became the intentioned People’s (Volks) Car (Wagen), and not only in Germany but worldwide as we well know. But it is only in 1949 that the Beetle enters the American scene, and even then, the future automotive phenomenon goes yet unrecognized.

But still, who might have driven the first Beetles back in 1938? Of the 20-year-old Europeans, here’s who: Ingmar Bergman, Anders Franzén, Eric Morley, Birgit Nilsson, Helmut Schmidt and Kurt Waldheim - and all these others.

1941 Plymouth De Luxe

1945 And what could a 20-year old buy when WW2 was ending?

This classic you still see around - at least on Sundays. Germans have their Volks car, and the French have theirs. Manufacture started in 1948 of Citroën 2CV (deux chevaux vapeur/two steam horses), and at least these Europeans might have enjoyed a ride in it: Gunnar Hällström, Jean Moreau, Ennio Morricone, Roger Vadim, Ruth Westheimer and Elie Wiesel. But also any of these people, born in 1928. Manufactured by Citroën between 1948 and 1990, more than 3.8 million 2CVs were produced, making it the world’s first front-wheel drive car to become a million seller.

What about this one? 1952 Citroen Traction Avant 11 Berline Légère? This one might have been driven by these folks:  Johnny Cash, Milos Forman, Richard Mulligan, Anthony Perkins, Omar Sharif, Elizabeth Taylor and Otis Young - and these.

Porsche 550 Spyder from 1955. The car that James Dean was driving when he had the fatal accident in September that year. It might have been driven also by these people - if they could afford or perhaps borrow it: Woody Allen, Sonny Bono, Pehr Gyllenhammar, Ken Kesey, Diane Ladd, Jerry Orbach, Floyd Patterson, Elvis Presley, Donald Sutherland, Erich von Däniken - and many more.

This 1957 Cadillac Coupe de Ville could have been driven - or admired - by these 20-year olds:  George Carlin, Warren Beatty, Jane Fonda, Edward Fox, Morgan Freeman, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson and Ridley Scott - and these.

1964 Aston Martin DB5 - the car James Bond (played by Sean Connery) was driving in Goldfinger. And these 20-year olds might have driven it as well: Jill Clayburgh, Joe Cocker, Danny De Vito, Michael Douglas, Sam Elliott, Joe Frazier, Diana Ross, Tony Scott, Jerry Springer - and all these.

This fancy 1965 Ford Mustang might have been driven by these 20-year-olds: Robert Bigelow, Eric Clapton, Dean Koontz, Steve Martin, Helen Mirren, Tom Selleck, Rod Stewart, Henry Winkler - and many more.

In 1966, the first generation of Toyota Corolla started filling the streets. Many, many people drove them! Here’s a few who might have done that: Cher, Timothy Dalton, Diane Keaton, Freddy Mercury, Ed O’Neill, Steven Spielberg and Sylvester Stallone - among many others born in 1946. After the first generation of Toyota Corolla, at least eleven more would come so that it has become a household name around the world really.

To represent a car from the 1970s, we have Chrysler Newport Custom from 1970. Now, there’s a car you would have trouble parking these days! But who might have parked it in 1970. Perhaps one of these people; Richard Dean Anderson, Ed Harris, Arianna Huffington, Michael Ironside, Ronald McNair or Steve Wozniak. Or these, born in 1950.

In 1986, the fifth generation of Toyota Corollas had been seen in traffic for a couple of years already. And who might have driven that make? Well, perhaps these people: J. J. Abrams, Marco Beltrami, Halle Berry, Cindy Crawford, Matthew Fox and Kiefer Sutherland - among others born in 1966.

Skoda Octavia that started being produced in 1996 could have been driven that year by these 20-year-olds: Colin Farrell, Miikka Kiprusoff, Michael McIntyre, Cillian Murphy, David Oyelowo, Audrey Tautou, Reese Witherspoon - among many others.

With so many cars around and not much place to park, it was a smart thing to introduce Smart in 2008. They’re definitely not for everyone, but if you can fit in one and don’t need to transport much - friends or stuff - the 20-year old You might have joined these possible people to have a ride in one back in 2008: Ashton Eaton, Conor McGregor, Amanda Nunes, Jesse Plemons, Jordan Staal and Alicia Vikander - among others born in 1988. Or perhaps you would just follow the car with your own…

Then what about a real modern car? Let’s take Tesla Model S P100D from 2017. And which 20-year old might drive this one? Or rather, admire it at the car dealer’s. Here’s a few: Sebastian Aho, Kylie Jenner, Lauri Markkanen, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid, Naomi Osaka, Marcus Rashford - and these.

Updated 26.11.2022