Sergei Prokofiev was a true car enthusiast even if not a very good driver as his contemporaries recalled. He passed his driving license exam in Paris on January 5, 1927. A fascinating account of this event was given by Prokofiev himself in his diary.

In 1929, the Prokofievs were returning from their summer vacation at the old Château de la Flechère near Lac du Bourget. On their way to Paris, they got into a car accident which was caused by Sergei Prokofiev. Luckily, neither his wife Lina Codina nor his children Sviatoslav and Oleg were injured in the crash. Only the composer himself suffered an injury: he broke his hand and was forced to stop playing piano for some time.

Prokofiev bought one of his cars in the United States. In January 1938, the composer went on his last international tour, visiting France, Czechoslovakia, England, and the United States. It was then that Prokofiev got acquainted with Walt Disney in Hollywood. The American animator was impressed with the idea of a symphonic fairy tale about a Young Pioneer called Peter. Prokofiev presented him with the sheet music for the composition and later, in 1946, Disney created the first animated version of this story — the color film “Peter and the Wolf”. Before leaving the United States, the composer made an expensive purchase. A blue Ford of a brand-new model was delivered for him to the USSR. Eventually, however, Prokofiev replaced it with an Opel Kadett: its license plate is still displayed at the composer’s museum as a reminder of his passion for cars.