'The O.C.' Had Elite Early-2000s Car Casting

The E66 7 Series is one of the icons of the show. It’s Sandy’s car in the first couple of seasons and absolutely personifies early-2000s luxury. I’ll be honest... I’ve always liked this generation of 7.

This L322 Range Rover IS “The O.C.” It’s hard to think of an episode where this car isn’t being driven by Ryan, Seth or someone else in the Cohen clan. It even gets into a horrible car crash and is miraculously back in the next episode. That’s British engineering.

After the first few seasons, Sandy trades his 7 Series for this SC430. History hasn’t looked too kindly upon this car, but it’s fabulous to me.

The producers must have had a deal with Lexus, because in season 4 Sandy gets with the times and buys a hybrid Lexus.

Summer’s 330Ci convertible is the perfect SoCal rich teenager car. These things still look good after all these years.

Luke (the show’s bastard in the early days) drives an absolutely sick, lifted Sierra Sportside. When this car appeared on screen in the first episode, I knew I was in for a treat.

Caleb Nichol, Kiersten’s father and Sandy’s father-in-law has hands down the best car in the series: an ultra-rare Aston Marin DB AR1. It’s fitting because he’s canonically the richest guy on the show. Good taste, Caleb.

When he’s not driving the DB AR 1, Caleb settles for the comfort of a Buick LeSabre, which is a weird choice. He has to be the only guy in the world to have both of those cars in his garage.

Jimmy Cooper, the father of the year, drives a very period-correct S500. Classic rich guy car.

His wife (and bastard woman) Julie Cooper is seen driving a Lexus Land Cruiser in the early days of the show. She eventually moves on to a Jaguar X-Type... which is a mistake.

God, these kids were so rich.

You quickly forget there are two Saleens in this scene because about three seconds later, Luke finds out his dad is gay, and this sends 2003-accurate shockwaves through Orange County.

Keeping with the LGBTQ theming, we’ve got Alex’s Wrangler her. Played by a guest-starring Oliva Wilde, she becomes Marissa’s very alt girlfriend. This was huge for the early 2000s.

Caleb’s funeral procession features a Range Rover, a Maybach 57 and an Aston Martin DB9. The man had style.

Marissa’s first car on the show is this sick Grand Cherokee Limited. This car was such an icon of the early 2000s, just like Misha Barton’s character was.

A few seasons in, Marissa trades that Jeep for a very red Ford Mustang GT. That’s a very solid upgrade if you ask me, and it makes me want an S197 Mustang very badly.

Oh, television. A few episodes in, Marissa’s Mustang GT mysteriously loses its top and becomes a convertible. This is never explained, and I assume no one was ever supposed to notice.

Summer’s other love interest, Zac, drives a brand new BMW X3 in the show I know this isn’t a big deal now, but an X3 was news back then.

Even the lawn care guys drive great cars on “The O.C.” I mean, have you ever seen a landscaper’s truck as nice as this one?

Even the “poor” kids who went to public school in “The O.C.” drove awesome cars.

Tsk Tsk Ryan, you really shouldn’t be stealing cars in Chino.

Theresa lives in Chino, and everyone in Chino is POOR! That’s why she drives an old LeBaron. Thank god Ryan got out of there. I love how black and white some TV shows are.

Believe it or not, this car is used as a stand-in for that L322 Range Rover from the beginning of this story. I guess the producers didn’t want to crash a Range Rover, so an old Jeep makes a good enough stand-in. To be fair, only real nerds like me would notice this.

Similar to what producers did with that Grand Cherokee, they did with a much older BMW 7 Series thinking I wouldn’t notice it. Well, folks, I did!

Without this 1978 Camaro, nothing on “The O.C.” could happen. If Ryan and his brother, Trey, didn’t steal this car, then Ryan would have ended up in jail and eventually in the Cohen’s pool house. It is one of the most important vehicles in history if you ask me.