Make no mistake about Amanda Dorset’s affection for Beetles, and I’m not talking about the insect. She has a thing for the car, the one made by Volkswagen.
Her office at home in Maplewood is decorated with lots of them. There are Beetle hot wheel cars, a Beetle purse and puzzle, a Beetle lampshade. When she married her husband, Ted, 12 years ago, she had the groom’s cake shaped like a Beetle.
It was purple just like her first car, a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle that she had to have in 1996 when she was 15.
Dorset never stopped thinking about that car, even after she moved to New Jersey in 1999 from Victoria, Va., a small farmland community where she grew up. Her parents gave up the car back then, trading it for support beams they needed for a house they were building.
Dorset talked about the car a lot with Ted and Bobby Daniels, a childhood friend, who restores and sells Beetles from his junkyard in Victoria, Va.. Knowing this, a friend of Daniels’ in North Carolina sent him a picture in December of a Beetle that was for sale on Facebook. It looked like Dorset’s car.
The color was purple and the tires were grey. But the clinching detail was this: The decal on the back window had Dorset’s first name - Amanda - above a picture of a Beetle.
Daniels texted the picture to Dorset, who just happened to be driving while visiting her dad this past Christmas in Green Bay, Va., which is 20 miles from Victoria, Va.
“I had to pull over and scream, and jump up and down,’’ said Dorset when she saw the picture. “It was just incredible.’’
Actually, that moment was meant be after 19 years. She tracked down the guy selling the car on Facebook, and learned that he lived 10 miles away from her dad in Meherrin, Va.
It gets better. The car title was still in her mother’s name when she met Robert Smith, the man who had the car. He agreed to sell it back to Dorset for $400, which was $100 less than her offer. He delivered it to her dad’s house, but that’s not the part that’s better.
Amanda Dorset was reunited with her first car, a 1975 Volkswagen Beetle, that still had her name on the back window after she had not seen the car in 19 years. (Amanda Dorset)Amanda Dorset
Dorset and Smith started talking. She told him that she grew up in the area and had moved away 20 years ago. He said he graduated from Central High School.
“Omg. I did, too,’’ Dorset said.
“What year did you graduate?’’ she asked Smith.
He said 1999.
“Omg, I graduated in 1999, too,’’ said Dorset, becoming more excited.
She didn’t recognize Smith, but he knew her. Dorset said Smith told her that they’ve known each other since kindergarten. That’s the best part.
“I don’t even have the words for it,’’ Dorset said. “It was a bunch of things that made it all come together.’’
Ted, her husband, gives all the credit to her late step-father, Pete Justice, who restored that car for her when he and her mother bought it in 1996.
“It was fate,’’ Ted said.
Smith was about to sell the car to someone else, but he changed his mind when he saw how much Dorset wanted it.
“Her step-dad gave her that car back,’’ Ted said. “He knew this car was about to be sold to someone else. He knew how much it meant to her.’’
Amanda Dorset stands between her black Volkswagen Beetle, left, and the faded 1975 purple Volkswagen Beetle, which was her first car that she was reunited with after 19 years. (courtesy)courtesy
It was beat up when she first saw it as a teenager. Trees branches were growing through the floor boards, the carpet was worn, a fender was missing.
“It was a hot mess,’’ Dorset said.
The car barely started, but Dorset still wanted her. Justice, a master mechanic, worked his magic to get it roadworthy in 1997. He rebuilt the engine, changed the color from blue to purple, a shade known as Plum Crazy that Dorset picked. She and her mom sanded the car for hours.
Dorset loved on that car for two years and created memories. The back seat caught fire. She drove into a ditch, freeing herself by climbing through the sunroof.
After Dorset relocated to New Jersey with an aunt, her parents moved and did the car swap. Dorset didn’t mind since she was starting a new life.
But she gradually began to miss the car again, especially after she met and married Ted. Turns out that he’s a Volkswagen fan like her. Over the last 12 years, they’ve bought six models. And one of them – take a guess – is a Beetle.
The only one missing to complete the collection is her purple Beetle. It’s still in Virginia at her dad’s house and not in good shape. The purple color has faded, the back seat is missing. There were spider webs inside. It’s rusty and doesn’t run since it’s been sitting nearly 20 years.
None of that matters to Dorset. Besides the birth of her two children and her marriage, Dorset said she has never felt so happy and complete now that the car is hers again.
“I would love nothing more than to fix it up and drive it,’’ she said.
If it can’t be repaired, Dorset said it can just sit in her driveway so she can look at it every day.
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Barry Carter may be reached at bcarter@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BarryCarterSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us. nj.com/tips.
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