Yep, just paying tribute to my old '78 308 that I had for 24 years and traded for the Roadster... just having some fun with the Scuderia shield., hence it is so small.
wow that Ferrari 308 is no joke; looking at them now and this is the closest to a tesla roadster I have seen; I love this style!!
Loved my 308... but did all my own maintenance and with two kids now, I did not have the time anymore. I ended up trading my 308 for the Roadster. Obviously, very different animals, but amazingly lots of similarities in size and quirks. Still miss her...
Thought you guys might be interested in these... In May 2011, when I was an Elise owner (but not yet a Tesla owner), I was invited to be part of a small group to visit the Lotus factory in Hethel. We met senior management, got to see the then 'next generation' vehicles - new Elan, Esprit etc. and drive on the Hethel track. We were also allowed to freely take photos in the factory, for the first time ever, I believe. I caught a picture of the Roadster production line, along with a couple of cars after production (US bound cars did not have the battery module). Don't know any VINs obviously, but these pictures were taken 5/27/2011
My wife and I toured the Lotus factory in Hethel in October, 2008 just as our car completed construction and checkout. We, too, were allowed to take all the photos we wanted. We saw a mix of Roadsters and Elises on the line. I was particularly impressed by the big jig for attaching the body side panels to the chassis. It had a red side and a blue side that could be rotated into position depending upon whether the next car was a Roadster or Elise. We were also given demo rides in a Roadster on the test track with one of Tesla's test drivers at the wheel. The straight was long enough to get to about 110mph but the track was rather rough, being WW II airfield. Good for testing suspensions. We got to sit in our car in the final inspection room at the end of the line (with no motor or battery since those were installed in California). After the tour we continued on our vacation so our car arrived in California before we returned there. Two weeks later we found it at the Menlo Park store as the technician pulled out for its first test drive, and then we took delivery on Halloween a few days later.
Envious of you guys that had tours of the Lotus factory and actually saw our Roadsters being built, to me that would be the icing on the cake.
Here is EU 277, a 2011, R80 (3.0) Roadster Sport, just after a wrap in Deep Space Purple (flip colour), the location is the UK's rocket propulsion test establishment in Buckinghamshire, rather apt