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Do you recognize this Roadster?

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adiggs

Well-Known Member
Sep 25, 2012
6,445
24,670
Portland, OR
Elon Musk in our car.jpg


My wife and I found this pic years ago of Elon in a Roadster, I believe at a auto show of some sort. From this angle this looks like what is now our car in all details. Of course not much can be seen, and I know of at least 1 other early Roadster 2.5 sport with the same coloration (I saw that other Roadster in San Diego while charging, as part of the EV Rally driving from the Canadian border down to the Mexico border; I thought somebody had moved my car :D).

So my question - does anybody know which VIN / Roadster that this is? We've got 969 and until we hear otherwise we've decided that this is part of 969's backstory before we got it (2nd owners, after Tesla used it as a test drive car for ~8k miles and the first owner had it for 1 year and 4k miles. We're up around 50k miles now, so at least its been getting driven in the 8 years we've had it).

Thanks!
 
I think it could be #969
( Was #969 lost in the Gruber fire? )

I think @DeedWest may know better if the above pictures are of #969 or some other similarly configured Roadster.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: markwj
I saw the picture you posted with the caption:
Musk at the opening of the Tesla showroom in Newport Beach, Calif., on July 1, 2010.
Photographer: J. Emilio Flores/The New York Times/Redux

Also, it is a shame it isn't higher resolution as the VIN number on the door sticker is pointed right at the camera !
 






My Esper machine can't 'enhance' in close enough on the Monroney to see the VIN... o_O
Roadster-Newport3.jpg
 
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I'm actually curious what @TEG and @DeedWest have on the "Nikola Tesla Special" edition in the showroom. Per the photo captions, it appears this may have been a vegan 1-off build:
"This is a one-of-a-kind Tesla Roadster, the Nikola Tesla Special. It happens to be vegan. How is a car vegan, you ask? No animal products were used in making it, Tesla's Jeremy Snyder said."
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I'm actually curious what @TEG and @DeedWest have on the "Nikola Tesla Special" edition in the showroom. Per the photo captions, it appears this may have been a vegan 1-off build

Yes, I have been tracking that one with interest. I made contact with the (original) owner and he is basically sitting on it while it appreciates in value. Stored carefully in North Carolina and rarely driven anymore. I think he would consider a high offer if someone really wanted it. He mentioned he could pay me a finder's fee if I got him in touch with a highly motivated buyer, but I have never done any kind of "matchmaking" like that before.

I heard that it (#1168) was special ordered for a customer at the Newport Beach store, and then they backed out and the new buyer just sort of lucked out that they had a one of a kind option package on it. How much extra is it worth for custom seat and steering wheel materials and a special plaque?