Here's a well made video production of some old timers doing what was intended of them. Complete with Yann Tiersen music I'd suspect..
Australia and perhaps America are not exactly representative of the state of things elsewhere.There was no dearth of cars in NSW before the war. My family's menfolk, and a sprinkling of the ladies all had their own cars then. My mother's aunt used her Dodge (her horse substitute) like a cross-country Bushmaster.