The teacher’s parking lot consists of mainly monochrome colored vehicles, save for English teacher Mr. Daniel Peterson’s tiny, bright yellow car—a 2000 Volkswagen Beetle. 

Peterson’s Beetle is a two-doored car with a turbo engine, flower-holding vase, and a shallow backseat. 

“The car was my wife’s grandparents’ car, and when they couldn’t use it anymore because they were too old, they gave it to her because she loved it,” Peterson said. “I love the fact that it’s connected to her family.” 

The meaningful family touch makes the Beetle uniquely special, specifically with a name engraved into the side of the vehicle. 

“Another thing I like about the car is that when my wife’s grandparents had it, her grandfather put his wife’s name on the side on little decals,” Peterson said. “So her name was Ida, and then my nine-year-old daughter, her name is Ida, named after her [great grandmother] when she was born, it also has my daughter’s name on it, which is cute.”

Peterson also has another car, a Subaru Outback, with very notable differences to the bright Beetle. 

“The other car is dependable and boring,” Peterson said. “This car is 25 years old, it kind of drives like a golf cart. So, when you drive it, it doesn’t go super fast, and it drives kind of weird.” 

Because the Beetle is older, fixing and changing its parts pose challenges. 

“It has been running good, but if you ever have to fix something, it’s hard, like we just had to replace the light bulbs for the headlights. Taking out a headlight casing when it’s been there for 25 years, it was just stuck. My wife and I were yanking on that thing for half an hour. We finally got it out, but it was not easy,” Peterson said.

Still, Peterson has made some fond memories with his wife and kids when they are all piled into the small car. 

“It’s fun, especially in the summer when I drive them to the pool or something, or when we put the windows down and go to Rita’s with our little yellow bug,” Peterson said. 

Peterson hopes to continue driving the Beetle, with hopes of his kids someday being able to too. 

“I just want it to last forever,” he said. “My older daughter is turning 13 next month, so she’ll be driving in like three years. It’d just be fun for her to be able to drive it and have that memory, just because that’s the family connection. So hopefully my kids can drive it, especially my younger kid because her name is on the car.”