Warning: SPOILERS for Cobra Kai Season 3

Cobra Kai season 3 revealed the surprising origin of Daniel LaRusso's (Ralph Macchio) iconic yellow car and who owned it before Mr. Miyagi (Noriyuki "Pat" Morita). LaRusso's 1947 Ford Super Deluxe convertible was introduced in The Karate Kid and the fact that Daniel continues to own it in Cobra Kai's present-day is one of the series many homages to the original film that kicked off the franchise.

In The Karate Kid, the classic canary-yellow roadster was one of the numerous vintage automobiles owned and maintained by Mr. Miyagi. The Ford was also a key part of Daniel's original karate training, as he had to clean it along with the rest of Miyagi's fleet. Crucially, LaRusso (without realizing why at first) had to wash it using Miyagi's specific method of "right circle, left circle" and then "wax on, wax off", which was revealed to the frustrated teen as a way to teach him the muscle memory to perform karate blocks. On Daniel's 18th birthday - which coincided with getting his driver's license - Mr. Miyagi let him select any car from his collection he wanted, and LaRusso picked the Ford Super Deluxe. Daniel's ride appeared in both sequels to The Karate Kid and it's a family heirloom in Cobra Kai that his daughter Samantha (Mary Mouser) nicknamed "the old banana boat".

Related: Cobra Kai: Every Season 3 Character Twist That Tricked Viewers

However, Cobra Kai season 3's flashbacks retconned the Ford Super Deluxe to be linked to the origin of John Kreese (Martin Kove). In 1965, the yellow convertible was owned by David (Jesse Kove), a Varsity jock who was the abusive boyfriend of a girl named Betsy (Emily Marie Palmer). In the opening flashback scenes of Cobra Kai season 3, episode 2, "Nature or Nurture", David arrived at a diner in the San Fernando Valley with Betsy and his lackey, James (Ken Barefield). As soon as they parked, David complained that the Super Deluxe was a "piece of junk" and he wanted to "scrap this and buy some muscle". Minutes later, David, James, and Betsy encountered the young John Kreese (Barrett Carnahan), who was a busboy at the diner. Afterward, Kreese would get in a back alley fight with David and James; after he beat the two jocks, he won the heart of Betsy.

Cobra Kai Yellow Car 1965

It's easy to draw a throughline of what happened next to David's Ford Super Deluxe: he likely followed through on his desire to scrap his 18-year-old vintage automobile and bought the muscle car he wanted. Either David sold the car directly to Mr. Miyagi at some point after 1965 or Miyagi, who collected classic cars, acquired the Ford some other way, perhaps at a scrap yard or a used car dealer. Regardless, Mr. Miyagi became the Super Deluxe's new owner, and he maintained the vehicle for the next two decades before he met Daniel LaRusso and gifted the "banana boat" to his student in 1984.

When David owned the Ford, its 1965 California license plate was 260VFD. Now that LaRusso owns it in 2o18, its license plate is QU4590. Adding even greater significance to his first car, Daniel cites the Super Deluxe, and helping Mr. Miyagi care for his classic collection, as what sparked LaRusso's love of cars, which led him to become a successful car salesman who now owns the number one car dealerships in the Valley.

While LaRusso has kept his Ford in excellent condition for over 30 years, it has also survived some terrible incidents, like its brakes giving out in 1985, which Daniel blamed on his ex-girlfriend Ali Mills (Elisabeth Shue). Worse, Hawk (Jacob Bertrand) from Cobra Kai vandalized the Super Deluxe in season 2, and he spray-painted "Cobra Kai Never Dies!" on its side. However, Daniel was able to clean and restore it to mint condition. In real life, the Ford Super Deluxe was given to Ralph Macchio at the end of The Karate Kid's production, and he has owned the car ever since, mirroring Daniel LaRusso in Cobra Kai.

Next: Cobra Kai Season 3: How Miyagi Beat Kreese A Third Time (Thanks To Daniel)