Random Model S sightings

[Kipernicus]

My son's preschool is right next to Solar City near the College of San Mateo, and yesterday I saw a white one with pano roof loaded with people pulling out as I was coming in, but no chance to take a picture. This morning I did a quick drive-by and spotted a silver performance with grey wheels and no pano. No front license plate.

I think what caught my attention both times was the door handles!

 

[olanmills]

I just saw a gray one going west down NE 4th in Bellevue, WA while I was eating outside at Potbelly.

I did the same thing again. I did a double-take. I saw the Model S coming, but since I'm so used to the image, it didn't really register in my mind until it was passing by, lol.

Gray is the color I finally locked in yesterday after waffling for a long time on color choice. It looks nice, but as I worried about, it's also kind of non-descript. Not that I'm looking to turn heads per se, but I think there's going to be a lot of grays, silvers, blacks, and whites around the east side of Puget Sound.

EDIT:
DOH, I just realized that this must have been the test drive car they have for the Bellevue store.

 

[shokunin]

Saw my first random Model S here in Irvine today around 12:45 going northbound on Culver just before the 5 freeway. I swear, I saw maybe 5% of the vehicle and said, is that an S and pulled out my phone to try and take a picture in time. I saw sig red and black rims and that was all I needed.

 

[MikeK]

My son's preschool is right next to Solar City near the College of San Mateo, and yesterday I saw a white one with pano roof loaded with people pulling out as I was coming in, but no chance to take a picture. This morning I did a quick drive-by and spotted a silver performance with grey wheels and no pano. No front license plate.

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I think what caught my attention both times was the door handles!

Does the "F" in the VIN indicate a "Founders" car? I really hope so, because the car has a number of fit issues that I think are not unexpected on the Founders cars, but would be really disappointing in full production:

• The gap at the bottom of the rear door is larger than at the top.
• The gap under the rear door is larger than under the front door.
• The bottom of the trunk doesn't appear to be flush with the quarter panels or the bumper cover.
• And, the chrome below the windows is misaligned where the front door and rear door meet.

On the plus side, the C-pillar trunk gap is pretty tight.

 

[TEG]

Does the "F" in the VIN indicate a "Founders" car?...

Yes. Solar City & Tesla have a close relationship.

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

JakeP, I'm glad you were able to get some nice interior pictures of the lighter interior. It really is a nice color choice!

 

[CyberDutchie]

The grey leather almost looks white in the direct sun. Or is it camera over exposure?

 

[MikeK]

I think it may be e exposure. The silver car at Menlo Park a few weeks ago had grey leather, and it was not easy to mistake for white IMO.

 

[grisnjam]

Blurry_Eyed-

A helpful little bird sent me these pics from Bellevue, where you can clearly see the grey interior in the sunlight.

Is that Lacewood with Grey? This is what I am leaning towards. Thanks for the photos!

 

[Blurry_Eyed]

Yes, that is Lacewood with the Grey. The seats don't look that white (I test drove the car) it is an overexposure by the camera. I thought the grey interior looked very nice with the exterior of the car and the black dash and other parts of the interior.

 

[ken830]

I've seen a few on the road on Deer Creak Road near Tesla's Palo Alto headquarters, a few at/near the Menlo Park dealership, and a few on 880 near the Tesla factory. I don't really count those as "sightings."

But this morning, I saw a Sig Red driving down Edgewood Road in Redwood City. Must be my first customer car sighting.

 

[gjamrok]

Saw my first "In the wild" Model-S sighting near my office back on August 31st but haven't had a chance to post till now.

It's the car featured in the AutoBlog article and while I don't prefer black cars it is really amazing to see it in person on the road (and with dust on it!)

Makes that deposit money from three years ago feel like it was all worth it.

I signed my paperwork on August 14th but haven't received any dates yet. All I know is that my car, with the 60kWh battery is slated to go into production in November.

 

[MikeK]

Sorry, just to be clear, is this VIN #1 -- Jason Calacanis' car?

 

[Todd Burch]

Sorry, just to be clear, is this VIN #1 -- Jason Calacanis' car?

Looks like a founder's car to me, based on the license plate. (I think all the founders have 6USX... on their plates, right?)

 

[brianman]

The plate on gjamrok's picture is 6USX021.

I don't see the P85, but the angle may be the reason.

It looks to be a solid (non-panoramic) roof.

 

[TEG]

Sorry, just to be clear, is this VIN #1 -- Jason Calacanis' car?

Yes, that is Sig Special #1... Not a "Founders'".
They gave him one of their batch of sequential CA plates... Not just for Founders' only...

- - - Updated - - -

Looks like a founder's car to me, based on the license plate. (I think all the founders have 6USX... on their plates, right?)

Not quite... They had 30 or so of those sequential plates... More than enough to cover the California bound Founders' cars, plus a few extras for low numbered sig specials. Some of the Founders' cars went out of California, so obviously they didn't put CA plates on those cars.
Also, perhaps a couple got personalized plates transferred onto their S right as it came from the factory so they didn't need a generic plate.

 

[grisnjam]

Yes, that is Lacewood with the Grey. The seats don't look that white (I test drove the car) it is an overexposure by the camera. I thought the grey interior looked very nice with the exterior of the car and the black dash and other parts of the interior.

Do you have any high res photos? I am thinking Grey w/ lacewood and this is the first I have seen of it ....

 

[Trnsl8r]

Don't mean to rub anyone the wrong way, but am I the only one thinking that publishing pictures of cars' VIN numbers is a little bit of an intrusion on the owners' privacy? i mean, for test drive vehicles and beta cars it was fun to keep track of, but for private owners it's a little different I think.

Just my two cents...

 

[mikevbf]

I do not know if this has been covered because I do not have the patience to read 44 pages of posts, but has anyone been able to capture a photo of a truck load of Model S? That would be cool. I figure with the batching for geographic regions, TM probably puts them together in a truck to get them to the general region they are going.

 

[vfx]

..TM probably puts them together in a truck to get them to the general region they are going.

Historically Tesla has used enclosed trucks.