So. My official Tesla story starts around March 2010 when I was given the cost of a deposit of a Model S as a 'bonus' and put down a deposit knowing it was refundable!
Growing up as a bay Area native (born and raised in Los Altos), I was pretty familiar with all of the stuff going on in the area and was always fond of the idea of electric cars. Electric RC cars were so quick and a full sized one would be just that much cooler!
BTW I live in Humboldt, CA now ~ 300 miles from T
A few years later I finally was looking at my timeline slowly winding down (or the S, anyways). Time to get my Civil license so I could 'maybe' afford an S. October 2011 came along and I had passed the National engineering exam + CA surveys (in April) but still had the Seismic exam left. We drove down to the Bay Area for The Factory Tour and test ride and were in love (with the factory!!) the S was pretty sweet too. I stopped shaving my beard that weekend (and finally shaved a little over a year later when my S was mine, the wife was a little upset, no more braids )
I studied for a few days after the test ride and passed CA seismic part of the PE during that October and was licensed in December(2012) - a critical step to be able to afford the S (almost afford :>
After taking the PE for the second time I had a little time to make my (the?) first RC Models S - 4 LiFe batteries makes the little S pretty quick
Forward 8 months and the test drive event happened in June at the Factory! whoa, short notice! I managed to get down there with my wife + picked up 2 Bay Area Friends - 1 who worked at NUMMI before Toyota was gone and another that works for Hilti tools.
I think They liked the car and Factory! I managed to get the test car up to 110mph on the return into the factory - with 5 people, averaging 200 lb each!! From that speed I slammed the brakes on, -hard- and, still total control!
The S made the '04 Lexus Ls430 that we borrowed feel like a joke!
My wife and I returned to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving weekend and I (we) stopped at Santana Row so I could sit in an S for a little and just look at him/her a little more. I was expecting/ hoping to get my car by the end of the year but maybe close to Christmas if I was lucky.
Well, apparently they wanted to do some grey cars right after the Sigs and I was shocked to get the e-mail that my car was Finished on November 28th!! Just 2 days after returning home (300 miles from the factory)
What?? I had to sell my Rav4, to my neighbor fortunately, but still that is short notice.
Somehow I managed to get together the cash I needed + smoged my Rav4 and sold it to my neighbor on Friday to get enough cash for what I was paying down.
My wife and I drove down to Freemont in a crazy rain storm that flooding rivers over highway 101 but luckily it wasn't raining the whole way. We made it to the factory right on time for our appointment at 4PM. The tour was even more Awesome than before - So much going on, I could stand there and watch each station for hours. Pretty cool stuff
I heard that they had put out 20 cars that night and were just busting ass.
We mistakenly went in a wrong door w/ security so I talked with a final QC inspector that does the bump testing and noise/vibration I think. He said thank you (and all of YOU) for giving me a job!
I said "The cars are Awesome, thank you!"
Growing up as a bay Area native (born and raised in Los Altos), I was pretty familiar with all of the stuff going on in the area and was always fond of the idea of electric cars. Electric RC cars were so quick and a full sized one would be just that much cooler!
BTW I live in Humboldt, CA now ~ 300 miles from T
A few years later I finally was looking at my timeline slowly winding down (or the S, anyways). Time to get my Civil license so I could 'maybe' afford an S. October 2011 came along and I had passed the National engineering exam + CA surveys (in April) but still had the Seismic exam left. We drove down to the Bay Area for The Factory Tour and test ride and were in love (with the factory!!) the S was pretty sweet too. I stopped shaving my beard that weekend (and finally shaved a little over a year later when my S was mine, the wife was a little upset, no more braids )
I studied for a few days after the test ride and passed CA seismic part of the PE during that October and was licensed in December(2012) - a critical step to be able to afford the S (almost afford :>
After taking the PE for the second time I had a little time to make my (the?) first RC Models S - 4 LiFe batteries makes the little S pretty quick
Forward 8 months and the test drive event happened in June at the Factory! whoa, short notice! I managed to get down there with my wife + picked up 2 Bay Area Friends - 1 who worked at NUMMI before Toyota was gone and another that works for Hilti tools.
I think They liked the car and Factory! I managed to get the test car up to 110mph on the return into the factory - with 5 people, averaging 200 lb each!! From that speed I slammed the brakes on, -hard- and, still total control!
The S made the '04 Lexus Ls430 that we borrowed feel like a joke!
My wife and I returned to the Bay Area for Thanksgiving weekend and I (we) stopped at Santana Row so I could sit in an S for a little and just look at him/her a little more. I was expecting/ hoping to get my car by the end of the year but maybe close to Christmas if I was lucky.
Well, apparently they wanted to do some grey cars right after the Sigs and I was shocked to get the e-mail that my car was Finished on November 28th!! Just 2 days after returning home (300 miles from the factory)
What?? I had to sell my Rav4, to my neighbor fortunately, but still that is short notice.
Somehow I managed to get together the cash I needed + smoged my Rav4 and sold it to my neighbor on Friday to get enough cash for what I was paying down.
My wife and I drove down to Freemont in a crazy rain storm that flooding rivers over highway 101 but luckily it wasn't raining the whole way. We made it to the factory right on time for our appointment at 4PM. The tour was even more Awesome than before - So much going on, I could stand there and watch each station for hours. Pretty cool stuff
I heard that they had put out 20 cars that night and were just busting ass.
We mistakenly went in a wrong door w/ security so I talked with a final QC inspector that does the bump testing and noise/vibration I think. He said thank you (and all of YOU) for giving me a job!
I said "The cars are Awesome, thank you!"
