I think it actually started with my generation. My only sibling who was born in the late 1940’s, 18 years my senior was and is a car nut, and apparently so where his peers. I never was car minded and neither were my friends growing up. I own an SUV, but to me it’s nothing more than a way to haul bicycles around and a way to get to work if it’s too wet or cold to ride a bicycle or my Harley.
I prefer driving my 1995 Ford Explorer over mass transit because I decide who gets to ride in it and who doesn’t. It may be an old vehicle, but it is MY property and it is paid for. I am 24.