Gawkers

[PattyChuck]

Okay, this sounds too strange to be true, but I assure you this really happened...

Last night was the first night I gave my new car a bath. Since I always used automatic car washes with my old ICE, I needed to "stock up" on some car wash supplies. So, I head out to my local AutoZone to get shampoo, wash mits, etc. The only other car in the parking lot was an old Corvette (no idea of the year, but I remember it was red). I go in, find what I'm looking for, and leave. When I got in the car, I pulled out my phone to answer a text, and when I get ready to pull away, I notice that the two guys with the Corvette are now standing at their car and gawking at mine. It's cold outside, so the windows are up, but it's pretty clear they're talking about my car (the finger pointing and nodding gave them away). I was anxious to get on with the car wash, so I didn't bother to get out of the car to chat with the two fellows. As I'm pulling out of the AutoZone parking lot (onto a multi-lane road), a car up the road that was in the left lane decides to pull in the right lane just as I'm pulling out. I can happily say that flooring this car and launching out of the way most likely saved me from getting in a fender-bender.

Fast-forward to this afternoon. I'm driving back to my office, and as I pull in our parking lot, I notice a car pull in behind me that I don't recognize (I know all the cars in our lot, as it's a small, private, employee parking-only lot). As I get out of my car, I turn around and right behind my car sits a red Corvette. The two guys in the car roll the window down and shout, "Hey, what kind of car is that?" I kneel down and we start talking about the car. As more of a joke to myself, I ask, "Are you the two guys I saw at AutoZone last night?" to which they reply, "Yeah. We saw you pull out of the parking lot last night and a second later, you had disappeared. That was awesome!" By (what I hope is) random chance, they just happened to be driving down the road right behind me and had recognized the back of the car (probably the "Zero Emissions" tag I have since I don't have plates yet.) I wish I had a brochure handy to give them. They were completely enamored with the car, and basically stared at it the whole time we were chatting. Had I not been heading to a meeting, I would have loved to have given them a test ride.

It is truly one of the strangest random events I have ever been a part of.

 

[Odenator]

The first day I picked up my car at Washington Square, a mom and her young son were taking pictures and looking in the window. When the mom realized it was my car she was gawking at, she apologized profusely but I told her it was OK. I open the driver' door and offered to let the boy sit in the car and play with the touch screen (I hadn't even sat in the car yet). The boy just looks at me and says, "No, it's not a Bugatti" and just walks away.

 

[smd]

It seems that teenagers seem to know about the car more than adults. i get a lot thumbs up from kids on bikes and skateboards. Most American are not automobile enthusiasts, so they're not aware of any new cars until they see a TV commercial. Since Tesla has had exactly 0 TV commercials, it's not surprising that many admirers have no idea what it is.

 

[PureAmps]

I've had my share of gawkers, but living in the SF Bay Area, Teslas are not exactly a rare commodity. But I will share my favorite story.

I'm stopped at a left turn light and a guy to my right in a pickup truck is trying his darndest to get my attention. His window is down and he's yelling and waving his arms. So I roll down my passenger window. He asks, "How long have you had your car?" I respond, "since the last week of December". He then yells back, "Dude, I built your car!" I was kind of surprised and said, "what?" He responds back, "Yeah, I just joined Tesla a few months ago, and I built your front suspension towers and parts of your rear suspension." He then went into some detail on the suspension which went over my head, and asked how I liked the car. I said "I love it!" He then gave me a thumbs up, light turned green, I went left, he went straight, and we parted ways.

I'm not sure who was more stoked by our chance encounter, but I thought it was pretty cool to run into one of the guys who actually built my car. It's nice to buy American again...

 

[brianman]

I've had my share of gawkers, but living in the SF Bay Area, Teslas are not exactly a rare commodity. But I will share my favorite story.

I'm stopped at a left turn light and a guy to my right in a pickup truck is trying his darndest to get my attention. His window is down and he's yelling and waving his arms. So I roll down my passenger window. He asks, "How long have you had your car?" I respond, "since the last week of December". He then yells back, "Dude, I built your car!" I was kind of surprised and said, "what?" He responds back, "Yeah, I just joined Tesla a few months ago, and I built your front suspension towers and parts of your rear suspension." He then went into some detail on the suspension which went over my head, and asked how I liked the car. I said "I love it!" He then gave me a thumbs up, light turned green, I went left, he went straight, and we parted ways.

I'm not sure who was more stoked by our chance encounter, but I though it was pretty cool to run into one of the guys who actually built my car. It's nice to buy American again...

I picked up a few brochures from the store so I'd be prepared. You gave me another idea: keep a marker/pen handy because if I was in the situation I'd ask the guy to sign one of the brochures and keep it for myself. You'd make his day and leave with an even better memory for yourself.

 

[KKlabunde]

Great gawker story today, involving an 80+ year old lady in a nursing home:

We took my grandmother to lunch in the S today. When we returned, I parked by the door and we began the slow walk back to her room. This 80+ year old lady was "running" after us as fast as she could to catch up. She said "I'm sorry to bother you, but what kind of car is that? It is gorgeous." My wife explained that it was a Tesla and all electric. To which, this little 4 foot tall nursing home resident replied, "Ohhh, I've heard of Tesla!"

That one will be hard for me to top, and I've had some pretty enthusiastic gawkers in my first week of ownership!

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

At the school dropoff today; queued up behind a car and out steps a fifth-grader, glances at our car and his jaw literally drops - he has this "whoa!" look on his face and doesn't realize that he's holding us up and several others behind as well. A wave and a smile from my wife and I jolted him out of his trance

 

[MikeL]

I've had my share of gawkers, but living in the SF Bay Area, Teslas are not exactly a rare commodity. But I will share my favorite story.

I'm stopped at a left turn light and a guy to my right in a pickup truck is trying his darndest to get my attention. His window is down and he's yelling and waving his arms. So I roll down my passenger window. He asks, "How long have you had your car?" I respond, "since the last week of December". He then yells back, "Dude, I built your car!" I was kind of surprised and said, "what?" He responds back, "Yeah, I just joined Tesla a few months ago, and I built your front suspension towers and parts of your rear suspension." He then went into some detail on the suspension which went over my head, and asked how I liked the car. I said "I love it!" He then gave me a thumbs up, light turned green, I went left, he went straight, and we parted ways.

I'm not sure who was more stoked by our chance encounter, but I thought it was pretty cool to run into one of the guys who actually built my car. It's nice to buy American again...

That's BEAUTIFUL!