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We all have to start somewhere when it comes to cars.
And that includes those who went onto make their names in the car world.
From motor company executives to racing drivers, actors with a need for speed to sports stars with a love of cars, these are the first cars of the motoring world’s biggest figures judging from our research:
Sample pictures shown except where noted
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Elon Musk - BMW 320i (E21)
Tech entrepreneur and Tesla chief Musk’s first car, a 1978 BMW 320i, was bought in 1994 when he was 23 years old.
He said in a Forbes interview that he fixed the car up himself and owned it for two years before upgrading to a Jaguar E-Type.
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Lewis Hamilton - Mini Cooper
His current garage apparently boasts a McLaren P1, a LaFerrari and a LaFerrari Aperta, and a Mercedes 300SL, but rewind to 2002 and Lewis Hamilton’s wheels were a lot more down to earth.
When the current Formula One champion passed his driving test back in 2002 he bought himself a used Mini Cooper.
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Jeremy Clarkson - MKII Ford Cortina 1600E
Clarkson’s fondness for the Ford Cortina stems from the time he saw one parked outside his school gates, his dad at the wheel. Clarkson recalls his pride that his dad had bought the ‘E’ model, a slightly posher and more powerful version than standard.
He followed in his father’s motoring footsteps and the moment he passed his test in 1977 he bought a 1969 MK11 Cortina. A 1600E, of course. He added extra front spotlights, fur-lined doors and race seats. “I went to town on it” he recalls.
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Jay Leno - Ford pick-up
Leno made his fame fortune on The Tonight Show and a stand-up comedy act, but he’s probably more famous now for his deep love of cars. Leno is the host of ‘Jay Leno’s Garage’ and owns more than 150 cars (and a similar number of motorbikes).
It all started though with a $350 1934 Ford pick-up he bought when he was 14 and spent the next two years fixing up.
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Bob Lutz - 1948 Beetle
Bob Lutz is one of the automotive industry’s leading executives and somewhat uniquely has had senior roles at BMW, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
Cars were an early passion and he got his first in 1953, a five-year-old Volkswagen Beetle that taught him the art of correcting sudden oversteer on wet roads.
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Andy Green - Ford Escort MK1
He might be the current land speed record holder but Royal Air Force officer Andy Green had a more ordinary start to his motoring life behind the wheel of a MK1 Ford Escort.
A car that would struggle to reach even a tenth of the speed of Green’s 760mph 1997 record-breaking drive in Thrust SSC. He hopes to break the record again with the new Bloodhound LSR project.
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Jenson Button - MKIII Vauxhall Cavalier
Former Formula One world champion Button owns a Ferrari F40, a McLaren P1 and a Ferrari F355 that he’s had since he was a teenager, but he still has fond memories of his first car.
It was a 1990 Vauxhall Cavalier 8V he bought for £2,000 and upgraded with sportier suspension, bigger wheels and a punchier sound system.
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Ralph Lauren - Morgan 4/4
He’s as famous for his car collection as he is his fashion. It’s a collection that’s estimated to be worth as much as £240m, with two McLaren F1s, a Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic Coupe and a Ferrari 250 GTO.
But it all started with Lauren’s first car, a 1961 Morgan 4/4.
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James May - MK1 Vauxhall Cavalier
Grand Tour presenter James May’s first car was a MK1 Vauxhall Cavalier from 1978, a base-spec L model. In a Top Gear magazine column he once complained it was a car so bad it had a piece of beige plastic instead of a clock, a radio that didn’t work and windscreen wipers that wouldn’t work in the rain.
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Jerry Seinfeld - Volkswagen Beetle
Jerry Seinfeld is the American talk show host and current face of Netflix series ‘Celebrities in Cars Getting Coffee’. He’s also a serious Porsche aficionado.
He’s rumoured to have 43 Porsches in his collection and in 2016 sold part of his collection for £18m at auction. His first car wasn’t a Porsche, but the next best thing: a ‘77 Volkswagen Beetle.
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Steve McQueen - Porsche Speedster
McQueen once said: “I’m not sure whether I’m an actor who races or a racer who acts.” When he wasn’t filming, he could usually be found at a track racing cars or motorbikes. He even won his class at the 1970 12 Hours of Sebring and finished third when he had a go at British touring race cars at Brands Hatch in 1961.
He owned many of the cars from his films, including the Porsche 917 from Le Mans (1971) - though he missed out on the Mustang from ‘Bullitt’. The first car he bought new, and the first car he raced competitively, was his 1958 Porsche Speedster. McQueen died in 1980; his Porsche is now owned by his son Chad, the only car of his collection remaining in the family.
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Eric Bana - 74 Ford XB Falcon
Australian actor Bana’s has owned his first car for 35 years. It’s a 1974 Ford XB Falcon that he bought when he was 15 years old for about £600.
In 2009 he made a documentary about it called ‘Love The Beast’ celebrating the passion people have for cars. He also races competitively.
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Paul Newman - Ford Model A
A legend on screen and a serious racing driver off it, Paul Newman adored cars and driving. It was the film ‘Winning’ that he starred in in 1969 that got him seriously hooked on motor sport.
He raced at Le Mans and competed in American racing series, forming his own Indy car team in later years. His first car was a 1929 Ford Model A. Newman died in 2008.
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Jay Kay - BMW 1602
Jay Kay, frontman of the band Jamiroquai is a serial car collector and owns among other models a Lamborghini Miura and a Ferrari Vignale 330GT.
His first car was a BMW 1602, the precursor to the 3 Series, which he bought when he passed his test at the age of 21. He bought a classic as it would be cheaper to insure, and bought the car back recently to restore it.
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Adam Carolla - Mazda B-Series pick-up
Carolla is a US comedian who appeared in a pilot episode of ‘Top Gear USA’. He later went on to form his own motoring show, ‘The Car Show’, as well as directing Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman’.
He’s a collector of ex-Paul Newman cars, and owns a collection of historic racing cars. His first car was a 1978 Mazda B-Series pick-up
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David Beckham - Ford Escort MK2
Former football ace Beckham has been a lifelong car fan and has owned a series of impressive cars over the years, including a Chevrolet Camaro SS, and a Jaguar F-Type Project 7.
His first car was more down-to-earth: a Ford Escort MK2, that he bought off Manchester United team-mate Ryan Giggs.
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Rowan Atkinson - Morris Minor pick-up
British comedian Rowan Atkinson is perhaps most well-known for his title roles as Mr Bean and Blackadder but he’s also a self-confessed car lover, and competes in historic racing series.
He has owned a McLaren F1, a Bentley Birkin Mulsanne, a Mercedes-Benz 500E, and a Honda NSX.
He has a penchant for British cars, starting out with a Morris Minor pick-up that his mother gave him when he was 12 and he spent his teens repairing.
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Vin Diesel - 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
Diesel is most famous for his role in the Fast and the Furious movie franchise, which has allowed him to indulge his passion for American muscle cars.
He has owned a Dodge Charger, Plymouth Road Runner, Pontiac Bonneville and a Plymouth Barracuda. Starting the love affair was perhaps his first car, a 1978 Chevrolet Monte Carlo that he bought at auction and promptly broke down.
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Sir Stirling Moss - Austin Seven
Moss has been described as the greatest driver to never win a Formula One world championship, and has competed in all levels of motorsport, winning nearly half of all the races he entered.
His first car was an Austin Seven that his father bought him at the age of nine, which he would drive around the fields at his home. Moss died in April 2020, aged 90.
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Duke of Richmond - Morgan 3-Wheeler
Lifelong car nut, Charles Gordon-Lennox, now known as the Duke of Richmond, is the brains behind the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Goodwood Revival, annual motoring festivals that he (usually) hosts in the grounds of his ancestral estate in West Sussex.
His daily drive these days is a Rolls-Royce Ghost (well, they are made on his doorstep after all), but back in the day a 16 year-old Gordon-Lennox drove a Morgan 3-Wheeler on a motorbike licence.
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David Coulthard - Renault 5
Formula One presenter and former racer Coulthard has a F1-derived, 1000bhp, Mercedes-AMG One on order and has a Mercedes SLS AMG and a 1971 Mercedes 280 SL.
His first car was a Renault 5 when he passed his driving test at 17, but by then he was already an established racing driver.
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Chris Harris - Mini
Harris is currently a presenter of Top Gear and formerly road test editor of Autocar, and he has driven - and owned - some of the world’s finest cars but his first car was an original Mini that he bought in 1991 before he passed his driving test. He kitted it out with bucket seats and a sports exhaust.
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Bernie Ecclestone - Morgan 3-Wheeler
The British businessman built up a considerable fortune owning the rights to Formula One until he was ousted in 2017.
He has amassed a collection of race-winning Formula One cars but claims to have little interest in road cars. His first car was a Morgan 3-Wheeler, a car he claims is one of few he remembers.
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Carroll Shelby - 1934 Dodge
The godfather of car tuning, Shelby gave the world the AC Cobra and fast versions of the Ford Mustang. Outside of building cars, he dabbled in a bit of racing, competing in eight Formula One races in the 1950s, and trained with Chuck Yeager in the US Army Air Force during World War Two.
His first car was a hand-me-down from his father, a 1934 Dodge, though we don’t know which exact model. Shelby died in 2012.
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Tanner Foust - Honda Civic Wagon
Foust is a rallycross champ, drifter and Hollywood stunt driver, doing the driving scenes in the ‘Fast and Furious’ films, as well as ‘The Dukes of Hazard’ and ‘The Bourne Legacy’. He’s also a former host of ‘Top Gear USA’.
His current drives are a Porsche 912 he got from his dad, and a 911 GT3. He started out on the road in a 1983 Honda Civic Wagon, which he rolled seven times in a crash when he was 18.
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Jackie Stewart - Austin A30
Before he’d even thought about being a race car driver, Stewart was working hard in his dad’s garage and had saved enough that, by the age of 17, he could afford a brand new Austin A30.
As we know, he later went on to forge a very successful Formula One career with three world champions in the bag.
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Mary Barra - Chevrolet Chevette
Mary Barra is the boss of General Motors and the first female CEO of a major global car company. She’s also a petrolhead and fell in love with her cousin’s Chevrolet Camaro when she was 10 years old.
When she was old enough to drive, she wanted to cure her muscle car itch by almost buying a Pontiac Firebird but, bound for college, decided to buy a cheaper Chevrolet Chevette instead. She kept the Chevette for a few years before upgrading to a Pontiac Fiero. All prescient decisions given where she ended up.
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Mario Andretti - Chevrolet Bel Air
Andretti is one of the most celebrated racing drivers of all time, and only the second driver to ever have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, World Sportscar Championship and NASCAR.
He voiced a cameo in ‘Cars’ and currently drives a Lamborghini Aventador and a Chevrolet Corvette Z06. His first car was a 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, red with a white hardtop, that he and his brother inherited from their father.
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Kazunori Yamauchi - Toyota Corolla
Yamauchi is the CEO of Polyphony, creator of the Sony Playstation racing game series Gran Turismo. As well as sim racing, he enjoys competing in real life too and has successfully competed in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in a Nissan GT-R.
His first car was a 1982 Toyota Corolla, a car that he says taught him the basics of fast road driving.
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Nico Rosberg - Audi RS6
2016 Formula One World Champion Rosberg is the son of Keke Rosberg, the 1982 champion. Rosberg junior has since retired from motorsport, spending his time in Monaco with his young family and a glorious collection of cars to keep him company.
German-born Rosberg’s stable is predominantly Mercedes, with an SLS AMG, 1970 280 SL, G63 AMG and a GLE. But he first started out with an Audi RS6, handed down from his father when he passed his test.
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Hakan Samuelsson - VW Beetle
Samuelsson is the CEO of Volvo Cars and has overseen its recent transformation into a premium car maker with models like the new XC90, V90 and XC40.
His first car was a 1958 Volkswagen Beetle, which didn’t have a working heater, something not so appealing during a Swedish winter.
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Gordon Murray – Hillman Minx
South African-born Gordon Murray needs little introduction to car fans. He designed the legendary McLaren F1 and Brabham and McLaren Formula One cars in the 1970s and 80s. He’s now planning to release his own supercar in 2022. Called the T.50, it’s a lightweight, V12 supercar of which there will only be 100.
For his first car, he really wanted an Austin-Healey, but settled for a much cheaper 1964 Hillman Minx instead, in which he promptly crashed six weeks later. These days you’re as likely to find him at the wheel of a (new) Alpine A110, the deft handling lightweight which we gather is now his daily driver.
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Brian Johnson - Ford Popular
The AC/DC frontman is a serious petrolhead. He has owned a 1965 Lola T70 Mark 1, a Bentley 4/12 Litre, and a Ferrari 458, which he describes as his favourite modern day car. He also has a Fiat 500 Abarth that he tows behind his tour bus.
He’s also fronted his own TV show, ‘Cars that Rock With Brian Johnson’. Growing up in Gateshead, his dad bought him his first car, a 1959 Ford Popular; he later described it as “horrible”.
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Ayrton Senna - Willys Jeep
Ayrton Senna was born in grew up in Brazil, and the three-times Formula One champion started driving at the age of seven on the family’s farm.
Though technically not his first car, he learnt to drive in his father’s Willys Jeep, even mastering the art of changing gears without using the clutch.
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Kimi Raikkonen - Lada
No-nonsense Formula One racer Raikkonen owns quite a car collection, including a Rolls-Royce Wraith Black Badge, and the Ferraris Enzo, F12 and 488 Pista.
But the Fin started out on the road in a Lada, describing it as very reliable and perfect.
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Patrick Dempsey - Porsche 356 Speedster
Actor Dempsey starred in Grey’s Anatomy, but he’s just as well known for his life on the race track, stating he would love to walk away from acting and concentrate on racing full time.
He’s raced at Le Mans several times, as well as Daytona and Baja and runs his own racing team. He’s also a diehard Porsche fan and fulfilled his dream early on with a Porsche 356 Speedster as his first car.
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Richard Hammond - 76 Toyota Corolla Liftback
Ex-Top Gear host and third member of the Grand Tour, Hammond’s career started in local radio but his passion for cars drove him into the automotive world and a spell as a public relations officer for Renault before earning his big break at the BBC.
Over the years he’s owned a Dodge Challenger SRT-8, a Morgan Aeromax, as well as a clutch of Porsche models from a classic 911 SC through to a 911 GT3 RS. He cut his teeth on his first car, a 1976 Toyota Corolla Liftback, which he tarted-up - in Top Gear challenge fashion - with go-faster stripes from black electrical tape, a rear window with an engraved eagle and a Japanese flag on the roof.
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Nick Mason - Austin Seven
The Pink Floyd drummer has built up a serious garage of cars over the years, counting a McLaren F1 and a Ferrari 250 GTO among his collection. He still races many of his cars and is a regular at the Goodwood Revival event.
The first car he bought with his band earnings was a Lotus Elan but before then the car-mad rocker’s first wheels was an Austin Seven, a car that taught him a lot about repairing old cars.
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Mark Webber - 1969 Toyota Corona
Webber was a successful Australian Formula One driver before leaving to race for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship in a 919 Hybrid. He currently owns a collection of Porsche 911s but he’s more likely to be found on the mountain bike trails around his Buckinghamshire village home.
His first car, when he lived in Australia, was a 1969 Toyota Corona. Showing how hardy his Toyota was, he has recounted a tale of the time his friends set fire to it but still couldn’t destroy it.
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Thomas Ingenlath - VW Polo MK1
Ingenlath transformed Volvo’s design in recent years and is now the CEO of Volvo-offshoot Polestar. Before this, he worked for many years at the Volkswagen Group, penning the Skodas Yeti and Roomster.
He grew up beside a petrol station in Germany, developing an early interest in cars. His first car was a MK1 Volkswagen Polo, describing it at the time as a rotten car.
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Alan Mulally - 1963 Chevrolet
Mulally is widely known as the man who saved Ford Motor Company, serving as its CEO for eight years until 2014. He’s an aeroplane fanatic, having served the majority of his career at Boeing, where he masterminded the 777 project, the largest-selling widebody aircraft ever, with over 2000 examples produced.
His first car was a 1963 Chevrolet, though he hasn’t publicly stated which model, and was a Lexus driver until he arrived at Ford.
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Andy Palmer - VW Polo MK1
Andy Palmer is the former CEO of Aston Martin and in an interview with the brand’s magazine recalled a story with his first car, a MK1 Volkswagen Polo he bought off his mother:
“I was driving in a country lane in thick snow, practicing handbrake turns, when I spun around and into a snow drift.”
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David Richards - Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite
Richards has had quite the motoring career: chairman of Aston Martin, presiding over two Formula One teams, masterminding the Subaru WRC team with Colin McRae, and he even won the 1981 World Rally Championship co-driving with Ari Vatanen.
His love of cars stems to rallying adventures in his native Wales as a teenager. His first car was a yellow Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite.
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