Displaying Your Roadster

[bonnie]

I thought I had it down ... bring a little Zaino detailer, along with a microfiber cloth ... keep a close eye. But the 13K Girl Scouts yesterday proved to be a new challenge. (Not to mention many were coming from the 'Get Your Solar Nail Polish Here' display, still waiting for nails to dry. And the ice cream cones. And the slushies. And, well, you get the picture) Kids don't see locked Roadster doors, they see something to jump over. Some people put signs on the car, but kids don't read those. But hey! The wind brought me a solution, one I will use from this point forward:

No one tried to get in the car, once I filled the seats with balloons. And it looked *festive*. Problem solved. Thank you, Universe.

 

[NigelM]

Water balloons? Lead balloons? Heavy air balloons?

 

[bonnie]

Just balloons filled with air. Or rather someone's CO2 emissions. They just floated up and made themselves at home in my car.

 

[dhrivnak]

Excellent idea. Thanks

 

[NigelM]

They just floated up and made themselves at home in my car.

They floated up to your car??

Joking aside that's not a bad idea. Yesterday at the Tesla event a few people set off my alarm....it's nice they were all so eager, but why do they try to get into someone else's car? I had the Valet watch over it after that.....

 

[bonnie]

I'm definitely tucking a bag of balloons in with cables. You do have to watch for kids grabbing balloons out of the car and taking off with them (really). But that could be simply solved by tying the balloons in place with a piece of ribbon.

And yes. Those balloons were bouncing along the road, hit the car, floated UP on a little bit of breeze, and fell in. So shush.



From yesterday:

 

[bonnie]

Yesterday at the Tesla event a few people set off my alarm....it's nice they were all so eager, but why do they try to get into someone else's car? I had the Valet watch over it after that.....

Rude.

I was amazed at the number of people who tried to jump in, drink in hand ... or parents who wanted to take a picture of their child sitting ON the car. Or the one guy who started to poke around in the trunk.

 

[Nvbob]

We have found that pretty much all the people at these types of events have kept a respectable distance. They have even gone so far as to take control of their kids to keep them away from our car. We do stick very close to our car "just in case."

But then again, we have only been to small events (out here in the "sticks").

 

[Doug_G]

We have found that pretty much all the people at these types of events have kept a respectable distance. They have even gone so far as to take control of their kids to keep them away from our car. We do stick very close to our car "just in case."

But then again, we have only been to small events (out here in the "sticks").

My Roadster was roped off a the Canadian International Auto Show, but kids small enough to walk under the ropes would go right for it. I ended up staying behind the rope to intercept them.

Strangely, I had a little trouble recently "out in the sticks," as you put it, at an eco event in a nearby small town. They had invited a couple of people, including me, to show their electric cars.

A completely oblivious older lady walks past me, plops her purse down on the car and starts rifling through it. Now I would have found that rude even if the car wasn't carbon fiber with soft paint. I asked her politely to please remove the purse.

Instead of complying she turns to her husband and says, "he's joking, right?" At this point I'm amused if a bit disrespected, so I say "no, please remove the purse from my car".

She says, "you're kidding, right?" "No." "Surely you're joking?" "No, please remove the purse."

Okay, I can deal with a little obliviousness, but after a few more rounds of this silliness I'm starting to get angry, and I'm on the verge of saying something FAR from polite. Fortunately her husband realized this and tugged her away. As they walked off she was still wondering what the fuss was about.

I'm assuming senility.

 

[TEG]

...They just floated up and made themselves at home in my car...

 

[Sparrow]

I just rollup the windows. They can still look in, but can't jump in or reach in that way.

 

[bonnie]

I just rollup the windows. They can still look in, but can't jump in or reach in that way.

No one tries opening the doors to get in?

 

[NigelM]

Bonnie.....?

 

[bonnie]

Was it the 'shush' that gave me away?

 

[daniel]

I had no problems. One very small child started to open the door, and his parents immediately closed it and pulled him away. I did have the windows up but the top off. I gave a couple of people (a little girl and a young woman) permission to sit in the car when it became evident they really wanted to. A couple of people came uncomfortably close with plates of food, but continued on by and nothing happened. Everybody was respectful. I always allow people to touch the car if they like. It's a car, not an oil painting or a Ming vase.

On another occasion I came back to the car in a parking lot and two young women asked me if one could take a picture of the other standing by the car. (It was a public place. They could have done that without asking.) One of them wanted to be a model and was building a portfolio of photographs. I took the top off (it was a sunny day and I intended to drive home without the top) and I invited her to sit in the car for some photographs. She wouldn't even put her hands on the wheel until I told her it was okay to do so.

 

[Sparrow]

Yes, I have had plenty of people try to open the door, but I lock that too. Usually though, if you are there and you give a concerned look when somebody starts toward opening the door they back off quickly. Locking is for the more brazen.

 

[strider]

I've only done one of these events (Foster City, CA Earth Day this year) but my experience was amazing. I stayed with the car all day to talk to people and hand out Model S brochures to parents and Roadster brochures to kids. Everyone was super nice. I had the trunk and bonnet open so people could look and if people asked I would let them or their kids sit in the car. One little girl had a drink as she was walking up and her father took the drink away before he even asked me if she could sit in the car. I only had one person use the windshield to pull themselves out of the car - I didn't get to him in time. But other than fingerprints everywhere (I Zaino'd the day before and had a bottle of Z8 w/ me which I would use during the couple lulls in traffic) the car made it through just fine.

Several parents were shocked that I would let people into my "expensive car". One woman told me a story about how her Father had some moderately expensive car (forgot what she told me) when she was a kid and he would never let any of the kids near it. Sounded like she's still bitter. I told her it's just a car. People should enjoy it - that's what it's for. The other Roadster owner there told my wife that there was what appeared to me a Sharpie marker spot on his paint at the end of the day. Dry Erase marker took care of that though.

 

[Doug_G]

Be careful with the really large events, especially the auto shows. In Toronto some moron was going around slashing seats. They got video of the culprit and were hoping to track him down. Apparently this is very commonplace in Detroit.

My policy at the show was to not allow anyone in the car. If they were keen and asked nicely I'd let them go behind the rope for photos or closer looks. Only a few adults tried to go behind the rope without asking first.

One of the keenest people I met was a woman from Peterborough. She knew all about the Roadster; it was her dream car. When she said she was from Peterborough I told her that I was going to Berc's Steakhouse to recharge on my trip home, and if she came by while I was there I'd not only let her sit in it, I'd give her a ride.

Talk about keen - she actually did show up and got her ride!

 

[dadaleus]

I've had mostly good experiences. But what cracked me up was the one ~11 year old kid who confidently walked right up and started opening the door. I politely asked him not to touch the car and he indignantly and confidently looked me in the eye and insisted "They told me it's okay" and continued to climb in. I told him "I don't know who they are, but it's my car and I say it's not okay."

He looked shocked and moved on. I wonder how often that trick has worked for him?

 

[ChadS]

I've done about 100 events; some of them auto shows where there have been tens of thousands of people. Some events I give rides, some I let people sit in it; but at the larger ones I often ask them to just look. Most people are very respectful, and keep food, drink, kids etc away. But with that many people, you do get some problems:

1. A lot of people assume it's a dealer car and just open it up and climb inside. For about the first year I left it unlocked because I wanted the trunk open; but then TomSax told me you can lock it then open the trunk with the key. So now I lock it, and this happens a lot less.
2. A small number--about one per event, at least the larger ones--will try to open it from the inside when they find the outside is locked. Then the alarm goes off. Sometimes I have a "Private Car" note on the driver's seat; that seems to help. As Sparrow noted, you can also keep the windows up; but I think the car looks better with them down and it's easier to see inside. I'm usually close by so I don't mind listening for the alarm.
3. Once while I was grabbing something to eat, the alarm went off and I ran back to the car annoyed (especially since I hadn't had my fob antenna rerouted yet, so I had to get right next to the car to turn the alarm off). There was a woman holding on to a ~11-year-old who was standing on my front seat, and the door was partly open. I was unhappy at first, but before I could say anything the kid turned around--it looked like she had Down's Syndrome--and the exhausted-looking Mom gave a very heartfelt apology, saying the kid had clambered in and she was unable to lift her out.
4. One show had a mascot in a big bear suit wandering around for pictures. He stopped in front of my car and made several poses while people took pictures. Then he stood right in front of the car, facing away, and slowly FELL BACKWARDS on to my hood for another pose! Not cool.
5. One kid, probably four years old, ran right up to the front of the car, jumped on the hood, and kept going. His Dad scooped him off pretty quickly.
6. At an elementary school, just about every kid there ran up to the car, put their fingers on everything, and then leaned on it with their coat zippers.
7. I had ropes around it at an auto show. I thought ropes would be a pretty clear "don't touch" indication. Apparently not--over a couple of long days, dozens of kids and adults reached way over to rap on things. Quite a few kids ducked under the rope and started pounding on the car; most parents pulled them away quickly, but not all. One kid started playing with the heavy rope pole, leaning it towards the car. His parents got irate when I politely asked him to stop.
8. One woman with a ~2-year-old said her son was fascinated by the "yellow car" and didn't want to leave...so would I mind if he sat in it? I said OK, and she put him in. He was fine for about 3 seconds. Then he started pressing every lever and button; his Mom tried to stop him but couldn't keep up. Then he stood on the seat and started hitting things. She apologized, but didn't make him stop. I asked her to take him out; he grabbed the wheel and started screaming.

Despite all this...the only damage I have is some scratches on my passenger seat from when my daughter wore a spiked belt. So no harm has come from all these people--I intend to keep showing it!