Sputtering and hissing, in comes a teal-green sedan to Haven’s senior lot.

Senior Theo Berkman-Lamm’s 1997 Toyota Camry isn’t in the best of shape. However, that doesn’t stop him from appreciating the effects of the old machinery.

“She’s old, but she’s still my baby. You have to think of the kind of headache-inducing cacophony that comes out of it as endearing,” he said.

For a first-time passenger, the car’s rattling can be frightening and alarmingly loud. For senior Fletcher Noto, who hitches a ride to and from school in the Camry, it’s “a beautiful song.” 

“I like to call it a purr, but someone with less trained ears maybe would call it a screech. It makes the loudest noise I think a car can make,” Berkman-Lamm said. “That’s a big part of why I love the car.”

He bought the teal-green car for around $4,000 from King’s Automobile in Swarthmore, where it had been sitting in the lot for a few weeks on the side of 320.

“Quite frankly, it was love at first sight,” Berkman-Lamm said. “It’s the color I always wanted, and I always wanted an older car, because I just think they look cooler.”

One addition to the Camry is a bummer sticker that reads “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” taken from the bumper of a friend’s Tesla. Due to both its older appearance and the Toyota logo — similar to the electric car’s iconic “T” logo — Berkman-Lamm jokingly calls it an “archive Tesla.”

Another effect of the old model is the machinery’s reaction to water. Noto recalls one time when the car started to smoke after running over a puddle.

“It looked like the car was actually going to explode,” Noto said. “Both of us got a little bit scared.”

In the future, barring any explosions, Berkman-Lamm hopes to take the Camry with him to college. However, he has concerns about its ability to make the drive to the University of Vermont, where he’ll be attending in the fall.

“There’s a solid chance it will die, but I’m hoping it has a little bit left in the tank,” he said. “To infinity and beyond.”