Roadster History North America

[TEG]

Well, I just found some info on 4 mystery North America VINs that never showed up in Carfax:

China Supplier Products - Tradesparq

The Office Of H.h Sheikh Diab Bin
1 Export Shipment Zayed Al Nahyanabudhabiuae
10,892(KG) - 4pieces
4 Units Tesla Electric Cars
ed-141502078610
chasis Number As Below
vin-5yjre11b981000328
vin-5yjre11b981000247
vin-5yjre11b681000075
vin-5yjre11b281000168

Looks like maybe they had gone to Abu Dhabi, and recently made a trip back to USA for service?

- - - Updated - - -

Also, I think a couple of North American VINs ended up at Juwi corp in Germany.

 

[TEG]

Here is a list of VINs that should have existed (in the sequence), but for which I never found any info:

VP15 - Maybe never existed
644 - Maybe in Switzerland?
794
806
873
1067
1087
1107
1120
1146
1161
1185
1246

If you know about any of those Roadsters, please let me know.
Note, they would need to be VINs that start 5YJRE... The European SFZRE are a different sequence.

 

[bonnie]

TEG, you probably have a more complete list at this point than Tesla does. Kudos.

 

[PokerBroker]

Bravo!

 

[TEG]

Here is a little update to the production numbers chart:

I removed some entries I wasn't sure about. They made sense in sequence, but I couldn't confirm their existence in Carfax, so took them off.
Also, it looks like two right hand drive Roadsters were made in the North America sequence (assembled in Menlo Park) and VINned for Australia. I think one was a non-sport demo car for the Syndey sales office, and one went to a customer there. I gather additional roadsters headed towards Australia were then made in UK, and came from the European VIN pool.

In terms of the missing ones... (about a dozen), they could be explained by:
Maybe they were shipped out of North America and so never got registered here.
Maybe someone took delivery and never registered it. Track car? Museum car? Running on dealer plates?
Maybe a goof where CarFax never got notified when they were registered.
Maybe something weird with those VINs I didn't know about.
Anyways, I will keep searching to (hopefully someday) confirm those missing VINs.

 

[PokerBroker]

This is awesome, I can use these production numbers for the 1.5 to earn "collector" plates in MN since they stipulate 20 yrs old OR less than 500 made

 

[Timothy]

Here is a little update to the production numbers chart:
View attachment 83110

I removed some entries I wasn't sure about. They made sense in sequence, but I couldn't confirm their existence in Carfax, so took them off.
Also, it looks like two right hand drive Roadsters were made in the North America sequence (assembled in Menlo Park) and VINned for Australia. I think one was a non-sport demo car for the Syndey sales office, and one went to a customer there. I gather additional roadsters headed towards Australia where then made in UK, and came from the European VIN pool.

In terms of the missing ones... (about a dozen), they could be explained by:
Maybe they were shipped out of North America and so never got registered here.
Maybe someone took delivery and never registered it. Track car? Museum car? Running on dealer plates?
Maybe a goof where CarFax never got notified when they were registered.
Maybe something weird with those VINs I didn't know about.
Anyways, I will keep searching to (hopefully someday) confirm those missing VINs.

So of those roughly 1400 Roadsters sold in the US, any idea how many are still on the road and how many are owned by the original owner?

 

[DaveD]

So of those roughly 1400 Roadsters sold in the US, any idea how many are still on the road and how many are owned by the original owner?

Tesla itself is likely the best/only source to answer that question.

FWIW, mine is still on the road, with original owner, 8+ yrs, 118K+ miles later.

 

[bolosky]

FWIW, mine is still on the road, with original owner, 8+ yrs, 118K+ miles later.

We knew it would eventually happen: I've passed you, Dave. I hit 121K this morning, and I'll be at 8 years in August.

 

[DaveD]

We knew it would eventually happen: I've passed you, Dave. I hit 121K this morning, and I'll be at 8 years in August.

Yeah, we knew it would happen eventually ... doesn't mean that I "hate" you any less, though!
Congrats, Mr. Bolosky!

 

[Medlock&Sons]

I still have photos of vomit in a certain red roadster.

 

[hcsharp]

I still have photos of vomit in a certain red roadster.

Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Medlock&Sons]

Its a good story actually. Acceleration described as so good the kid lost his lunch.

 

[DrivingTheFuture]

Were any roadsters able to be modified to add power steering?

 

[hcsharp]

Were any roadsters able to be modified to add power steering?

Any Roadster could be modified to add power steering if you tried hard enough. A better question is why would you want to? While it might be a little cumbersome at slow speeds, the lack of power steering makes the Roadster quicker, more responsive and gives the driver a better feel of the road.

The front end of a Roadster is very light so it doesn't need power steering as much as a lot of other cars.

 

[Timothy]

Any Roadster could be modified to add power steering if you tried hard enough. A better question is why would you want to? While it might be a little cumbersome at slow speeds, the lack of power steering makes the Roadster quicker, more responsive and gives the driver a better feel of the road.

The front end of a Roadster is very light so it doesn't need power steering as much as a lot of other cars.

Agreed. I love the feeling of the road. My 1992 Alfa Romeo Spider is fun to drive but it has power steering. My 1971 Alfa Romeo Giulia Super had manual steering. And like the Roadster, is much more fun to drive for me.

 

[TEG]

I heard that they experimented with power steering including building some prototypes but decided against it.

 

[ion_1]

Approximate number of Roadsters produced for North America:
View attachment 152078

(some of the VPs went back and forth to/from Europe for shows and demos)
(Year was "model year". Region is where car was intended to go, but some were "gray market" exported to other places.)

I always wondered how so many roadster sports could be available for sale. It clearly makes sense when you look at your production numbers and realize that more sports were produced than base models in 2010 and 2011.

TEG you could develop a great business supplying a "TEG report" similar to the "Marti Report" of the Shelby/Fords (except yours would have historic pictures which can catch modifications!). The Marti report has been incredibly beneficial to those in that community checking the validity of shelby/rare mustangs pre-purchase. Thanks for all you do!

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

The timeline includes Roadster "mules" but what about the "bucks?"

The aerodynamic test "buck"

I'm particularly interested in knowing which year a Roadster buck appeared at Burning Man, as well as when that buck was made (if not the same year).

 

[TEG]

I'm particularly interested in knowing which year a Roadster buck appeared at Burning Man...

Supposedly in 2007.

See this post from 2007:
Tesla mockup at Burning Man?!

Gigaom | How EcoFriendly Was The Burning Man Festival?

September 3rd, 2007
The unbranded electric sports car on display was a Tesla wax model they use for wind tunnel testing.

Solar carport and Tesla

Taken on August 31, 2007