Houston, TX

[LiteWait]

Alright here is a picture of the parking lot and you can see an arrow I drew marking the chiropractor's shop on the corner near where all the Lamborghini's park.

Vintage_Parking | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I think if we got there early enough we could line up on either side of that street that runs southwest - northeast. I'm not sure exactly where stephenpace used to park but maybe someone can mark it on that map and re-post it if they disagree with this parking selection. The good part about having a Tesla is that we can check the forum on our dashboard when we get there in case things change. I will be there at 6:15 am and unless anyone says we should park in the old spot I will be at the chiropractor's corner.

 

[Cyberwelly]

I'll try to make it. Just had the windows tinted so don't want to wash my car. So if I attend my car might be a bit dirty.

 

[jwolens]

@LiteWait- Thanks for map!

I will be there but my Tesla is still in Austin. I guess the part they were waiting on did not seem to fix the problem as it should have been back tonight. I do not know more specifics.

It sucks, but my Cutlass is driving great and needs to get some miles on it so it'll be out. Just won't take up Tesla spots for it.

I will be there around 6-6:15 baring any unforeseen issues.

- - - Updated - - -

Just got off phone with Tesla Service from Austin (9:20 pm Friday night!). The problem is fixed and they are waiting on finishing some programming issues and will be bringing my car back tonight to Houston.

If things go well, he will drop it back off at the Coffee and Cars event!

We'll see if the details can be worked out. Bringing a friend to drive it back with me.

Cross your fingers everything works out as a drop off tomorrow should be pretty cool.

See y'all there.

 

[stephenpace]

@jwolens: I hung out at the Austin service center this afternoon to get some juice, and I believe I saw your car. Also, they were prepping a large car carrier of cars all going to Houston which left after 5pm. They were working hard and late on a Friday!

@LiteWait this is where I usually park (bottom of the right American cars section), but either place is fine with me. I will be there for sure--probably around 6:30am. They are predicting 1500 cars tomorrow so earlier is probably better.

 

[LiteWait]

ok stephenpace and i are in front of the chiropractors. we have 3 more spots saved.

 

[brianman]

ok stephenpace and i are in front of the chiropractors. we have 3 more spots saved.

Is this so you have easy access after surprising (the back of) some passengers?

 

[gkalexdc]

It was a great gathering today! It was a nice touch that (Cali)? (sp) from the Tesla store was there in the freezing cold !! Thanks to Stphen Pace for all the logistics and getting there early !! I brought my P 85 (green) S and was only a few slots down from the group. I didn't stay the whole time because it was cold and we needed breakfast. Certainly looks like our Tesla's are multiplying!! Nice to meet LiteWait ( Jason) and see all the other beautiful Tesla's. I will certainly make an effort for next month !

 

[stephenpace]

Yes, thanks to everyone for braving the cold and making it out! It started crazy early (I got there at 6am and the old spots were already filled, so thankfully Jason had suggested the alternate location!). Lots of colors and people really enjoyed seeing the rear facing child seats. And Cyberwelly's frunk child seat. Doing the 'drive out' as a group was great as well--can't wait to see the videos. In the end we could have used a few more spots--we had 8 cars today (7 Model S, 1 Roadster) but we got squeezed by the GTR contingent. We will try to get a few more next time. Also, please remind me to collect contact details--maybe we should start a Google Group like the Austin - San Antonio crew? For those that want it, email notification might be easier for the folks that don't live on the forums.

Next scheduled meetup:

Mark your calendar for Thursday 3/21 at 5:30pm. All are welcome to join!

Buffalo Grille Academy & Bissonnet (West U)
4080 Bissonnet St
Houston, TX 77005

The Buffalo Grille - Houston, Texas
713-661-3663

Looming unscheduled meetups:

1) Opening of the Houston Service Center - oil traps no longer required, just requires final inspections and some minor last minute work
2) Opening of the Austin Gallery Store - very soon, invite only? We'll find out!

 

[LiteWait]

@stephenpace: Another potential meetup could be the Shell Eco-marathon. My alma mater, RPI, will be competing. It should be pretty interesting.

Date:

4/4/2013 -4/7/2013

Event Website:

Shell Eco-marathon Americas - Shell Global

 

[stephenpace]

Yes, I have gone before (I used to work for Shell and volunteered at the event one year). I wonder if they would let one of us park a few of our cars inside where the students work on the cars? Could be a good exhibit. We could use one of the signs that David Smith made.

 

[jwolens]

It was great seeing all the Teslas this weekend at Coffee and Cars. My Tesla was indeed shipped back from Austin Friday night arriving in Houston at 2am Saturday. It was dropped off at my home at 3pm Saturday. I have to hand it to Richard (Service guy for Houston) as he is definitely burning the candle at both ends to get these cars taken car of.

Unfortunately, I had another glitch with the system soon after getting the car on Saturday where I had an faulty inverter warning (ie- the car should not be working) and a return of my airbag warning light (reason why it was in Austin to begin with). A complete reset of dash and computer fixed the inverter warning but did not resolve ABS issue. I had a compete software update Sunday morning that seems to have fixed all the issue as of this am. I hope that these issues are resolved for good...

Also I was stopped by another Tesla person on Sunday morning who had lots of questions. As the local Tesla guru, if Stephen Pace could message me with his contact info, I could have it for those Tesla owners who need some assistance.

I plan on being at Buffalo Grill on the 21st with my Tesla barring any unscheduled service stops. I did like having my Cutlass at Coffee and Cars and it was the only one of its kind there (Cutlass or Olds for that matter). Seems like more of a dying breed...

 

[jwolens]

Service center update. Spoke with Richard today. Major permit issue resolved last week. Awaiting final permitting and some touch up stuff. Should be open in 2 weeks. Fingers crossed.

 

[garyrodr]

I was told by my DS that it would open on March 11!, that is the day mine was scheduled to be trucked back to Austin to address some minor issues....I asked if that would still happen and have not heard back yet....

Also thinkg of driving to Canyon lake this weekend. The people we are staying with have a NEMA 14-50!, but still not sure if I am comfortable driving that distance Friday night with a 60Kw battery! (180 miles apparently, quite hilly past San Marcos...) Anyone have any thoughts? I will post elsewhere on this forum too.

 

[huntjo]

Dang, I'll be one day late, arriving to Htown on Friday. Hope I can catch one of these when I'm in town.

 

[jwolens]

The service center is awaiting for their Certificate if occupancy before they officially open. They should have that by early next week- March 18th or 19th (Monday or Tuesday).

Richard is manager and was not there this week. Wes is service tech and good guy. Ian is detailer / porter and did a great job detailing my car. Whitney is delivery specialist and should be here once the center is officially open.

They need to work on the loaner car process through Enterprise. If I need to do that again, I will use my local Enterprise branch as they as much more receptive and friendlier than what I had to deal with at the Fondren / Westheimer branch near the service center.

 

[Lynn005]

On the way home from work yesterday there was a Fisker behind me. Today I had another Model S (black) siting while driving my (Sig Red) Model S. It was at the light next to Buffalo Grille, where I hope to see many of you on Thursday night!

 

[Babylonfive]

We were lucky enough to have Stephen Pace visit us in Austin for some legislature 'amateur lobbying' - wish we could do a big Texas fest with everyone!

The Tesla repair shop guy mentioned at least 100 S's in Austin, and probably 250-300 in Dallas and Houston. Wish I knew the real numbers... hope they are large and fuel some dang Superchargers! Elon (during his trip to the Austin store) mentioned having them in the 2nd quarter... <sigh>

David

 

[jerry33]

and probably 250-300 in Dallas

Based on the pins in the map, I'd say there's about 200 in the DFW area although not all have been delivered yet. When I picked up mine on the 2nd, there were about 60 waiting to be delivered according to the Tesla folks.

 

[flybob08]

Just got my car this week - green 85Kw - It is a blast to drive. Whitney was great - she arrived at almost the same moment as the care and spent a couple of hours with us explaining everything on the car! For those waiting, we used Sugar Land Electric (281-491-5393) to install our NEMA 14-50. They were about 1/3 the cost of Mr. Electric ($467 vs. almost $1,500). Mr. Electric was going to run conduit about 20' down the wall on which the breaker box was located (this was on the passenger side of the car so I would have had to run the cord over or under the car to plug into); Sugar Land Electric snaked the wire in wall and put in a ceiling plug with a pigtail coming down about 4 feet to plug into on the driver's side. However, I also elected to buy a marine grade connector on-line for the end of the line about $75. It is well insulated, but also is soft rubber rather than hard plastic/metal. Can't wait to meet up with others in the Houston area!!

 

[stephenpace]

@flybob08: Congrats! What is your VIN? Will we see you at Buffalo Grille on Thursday?

All: a reminder for the meetup this week:

Thursday 3/21 at 5:30pm. All are welcome to join!

Buffalo Grille Academy & Bissonnet (West U)
4080 Bissonnet St
Houston, TX 77005

713-661-3663

RSVP is not required, but if you think you might be going, can you drop me a quick email at stephen_pace at hotmail.com? With over 100 cars in town, I'm getting a bit worried about how many people might show up.