A 1 Million Dollar Roadster

[FlatSix911]

Aloha,
I've been lurking in this forum (I'm a fan of the Roadster and a future owner). I've learned quite a bit reading your posts and hope to one day share, as an owner. As part of my 'obsession' to learn more about this piece of automobile art, I scan sale listings periodically. Today, I found a $1M roadster on eBay! It is described as a 'validation prototype'. Snippet from the description:

A million dollar Tesla may be crazy today but with vintage Ferrari's going for $15M+, imagine what the first Ferrari prototype models would go for. Take that 30 years into the future when most cars are electric and they'll be able to trace their history back to Tesla, the company that is changing the industry, and this being a prototype of its first model. Historic and super sporty." There you have it - a million dollar Tesla!

I made my best offer ... $1,032 assuming he misplaced the decimal, and requested a Carfax.

Previous for sale listing:
2008 Tesla Roadster 5YJRE11B181V00032 for sale in Seattle Bellevue WA

 

[Tesla 940]

Price to match the VIN / or year makes sense to me. In 2001 I paid $2,001 for a belt!

 

[kamski350]

I think the best suggestion so far is that the seller's partner has forced them to try sell it so they've gone out of their way to make sure it doesn't!

In all seriousness, seems ludicrous. We're trying to sell European Signature VIN #000002 with less than 2,000 miles on it at the moment... and that's circa 60,000 USD. Mind you, pricing over here might be different then it is for you guys.

 

[DeedWest]

It's hard to know for sure, but I've seen this far too often with Roadsters.

Example: A guy in Texas purchased Roadster Sport #935 shortly after I test drove it earlier this year. Car sold for $67K and had extensive UV carbon & paint damage. Needed serious correcting. Nice car otherwise. I ended up finding the vehicle listed on Craigslist a month later for $150,000, stating it was a rare collector's item. At this point, the $9,000 clear coat exterior carbon accents had been WRAPPED with some crappy 3M wrap. Wasn't even glossy...

I believe some people buy these cars thinking they'll be able to pawn them off to another...idiot...who doesn't understand them. I sincerely hope that doesn't happen. I'd like to think as a forum we're great at bringing things like this to attention. Thank you to the OP for that!

 

[ecarfan]

I believe some people buy these cars thinking they'll be able to pawn them off to another...idiot...who doesn't understand them.

I would phrase it as "Some speculators buy Roadsters thinking they will be able to flip them for a huge profit". I've seen the same behavior with vintage Porsches. Sometimes the speculator gets lucky.

This particular case is an extreme example of a speculator hoping to find a sucker.

 

[DoctorZ]

The seller's eBay handle is 'Jester'
That's certainly understated.

Fast forward ~25 years......

Early, low mileage, low VIN, with 'decent' (how much will be decent?) range, original/'stock' Roadsters MAY approach or even exceed their original MSRP's. Adjusted for inflation in ~2040, how much more will they be worth than they are now?

Tesla, IMHO, has already established itself as an iconic marque.
Its early examples are bound to appreciate eventually.

But unless 'Jester' can find a way to significantly alter his telomeres, allowing him to live a biblical lifespan, his V32 sale price is likely to be 5, not 7 figures

 

[doug]

Snippet from the description:

"Own one of the first Tesla's ever produced #32 - ultra rare Tesla roadster validation prototype vin ending in #V00032. V = validation prototype code and 00032 is the unit number. One of only approximately 33 prototypes made, some of which were destroyed for crash testing. Not originally sold to the public. Has early features like the gear shift knob not found on most other models. In fantastic condition with just over 18,000 miles. See links below for more details and background on the validation prototype Tesla roadsters and to verify meaning of vin codes."

It's worth pointing out to the newer folks that this isn’t really a prototype. The Validation Prototypes (or VPs) could actually be called as such up to about VP10. But above that the VP series were used as marketing cars for test drives and such.

Tesla played a lot of games with the VINs since they figured having a low VIN would be seen as valuable to their customers, so if another marketing car was needed they would stick in a new VP VIN so as not to eat up another production VIN.

Originally VPs were not to be sold to customers. However, Tesla eventually did sell these marketing cars, at a discount IIRC.

 

[TEG]

You can see from this Roadster production dates thread:
Roadster production dates
That the VP production was interspersed with the regular production.
VP32 was likely made in 2009 after hundreds of regular production roadsters were already produced.

It would be unusual to find anything produced in 2007 for sale.
Any of the EPs or VPs < 15 would perhaps be the fleet of real "test cars".

I have seen VP6 & VP9 private registered and being driven on the street.
Those were both 2007 cars that pre-date the Founders' cars and regular production...

 

[stevejust]

I have seen VP6 & VP9 private registered and being driven on the street.
Those were both 2007 cars that pre-date the Founders' cars and regular production...

@TEG Do you recognize this one? This is the first Roadster I ever laid eyes on in June 2007. Sorry for the terrible photos. This was taken with a blackberry back when they were blue and had terrible cameras on board. I figure if anyone knows its number, you might. This is from the Concours d'Elegance in Beverly Hills on Father's Day in 2007:

 

[TEG]

That is EP#2... The 2nd "mostly real" Tesla Roadster made. The same one (along with black EP#1) that were used in the original launch in Santa Monica. I got a ride in it once before they retired it.

You can tell because of the white VIN sticker (visible in your photo)...
Zoom/enhance:

 

[TEG]

Governator approved:

 

[TEG]

Check out the white gauges, and 2 speed transmission... Now there is a prototype for you.

Oh, and the big red emergency stop button in the center of the dash...

 

[Habious]

Wow, I really like those white gauges, actually!