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Where are they now? The first 100 Roadsters
- Thread starter tdelta1000
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Slackjaw
Member
"divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived..."
This very interesting thread deserves a table on the Wiki. I'll start one at some point if nobody else does. As long as we don't invade anyone's privacy it would be a good resource to see the survival rate of these early cars.
I think these founder/sig Roadsters will be the first ones to show any real collectors' value. A museum would probably want one of the early cars if it wanted a Roadster at all.
This very interesting thread deserves a table on the Wiki. I'll start one at some point if nobody else does. As long as we don't invade anyone's privacy it would be a good resource to see the survival rate of these early cars.
I think these founder/sig Roadsters will be the first ones to show any real collectors' value. A museum would probably want one of the early cars if it wanted a Roadster at all.
I would bet that the 2.5 Sport cars will fetch a premium over the early cars for quite some time, because they are quite a bit better in fit/finish, and are more refined.
wiztecy
Active Member
I'd think the fit and finish is the same with the sport vs the non-sport. Its only that it had upgraded firmware for the PEM and a hand wound motor to get 3.7 vs. 3.9 0-60 times. It came stock with a sport suspension that was optional for other Roadsters. The 2.0 sports came with the black finish forged rims. Other than that its the same Roadster.
Personally I think the collectors price will follow the rarity of the car. For example, I feel the VP's and Founders will be the Roadsters to climb and hold a higher collectors price for that they are the most unique and very limited in production (validation prototype = 27; founders = 30), followed by the Sig 100's (I believe the 1st 30 were founders and the last 70 regular Sigs), then the sport which a little over 500 were produced in North America. There were 2+ EP (engineering prototype) Roadsters, but I don't think those were legal to sell.
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You are right, the difference is in the performance, and most of the sports were fully optioned cars.
I think they were able to sell the VPs.
I don't think they could sell the EPs. (And there were many more than 2 EPs)
I don't think the Sig cars were divided into Founders vs Regular. (There is a seperate VIN sequence for Founders' cars versus Sig/Regular
The "Signature Green" color was only offered on the Founders' and Signature cars, so those particular cars could be slightly more collectible.
Then there are cars which had a famous original owner... On a Founders' and Sig Roadster you might be lucky enough to have a plaque with the buyers name.
The later VPs weren't really VPs (Validation Prototypes). They were cars built for marketing that were given a VP VIN (which had their own sequence) in order to not eat up first production year low VIN. At the time, my understanding was that these cars were not be sold. However, many did eventually get sold.
Thank you...When I created the thread I wanted to know what would happen to the first 100 over a span of five years. It's go to see them doing well thus far.
... My better half is driving a Signature Green #40 that had its famous original owners' name (and plaque) removed from the car... Of course the first time I brought it into service, the service associates were NOT briefed on the anonymity of the previous owner and they referred to me as "the buyer of "famous person's" Roadster."
So far she's almost tripled his original 2220 miles on her Roadster at around 8,000 miles since getting her car CPO in September and I've already passed her with about 11,500 miles since picking up our Model S in November.
Mine is VP32 so there's definitely more than 27. From my research, I believe the VP's were up to 37 +/-1.
Not all VP's were sold. From what I've been told, some were treated pretty harshly by journalists and what not and were not refurbishable. What did get sold had new tires, brakes, that sort of thing. Battery were validated to "like new spec" but were not all replaced as a rule. They just had to meet certain standards. I think each series represents a piece of history. Collector's pricing is like gazing into the future, who knows what "those people" are looking for. But certainly, all Roadsters are special in their own way, just because of the rarity and the history.
Not all VP's were sold. From what I've been told, some were treated pretty harshly by journalists and what not and were not refurbishable. What did get sold had new tires, brakes, that sort of thing. Battery were validated to "like new spec" but were not all replaced as a rule. They just had to meet certain standards. I think each series represents a piece of history. Collector's pricing is like gazing into the future, who knows what "those people" are looking for. But certainly, all Roadsters are special in their own way, just because of the rarity and the history.
Thanks for adding the information about your Roadster. Hopefully more owners will add and update their information.
amzng_ev
Member
chronopublish
2008 Roadster #VP27
I was curious about this, so I looked back through my e-mail history to find the list of VP cars when they went up for sale. According to the e-mail, they were offering VP23 through 33 - and the list included cars that had already been sold, so I believe this represents all VP cars ever sold to the public. If correct, this means only 11 of these cars are in the hands of customers. I don't know what the collectors value may or may not be in the future, but these certainly are a very rare set of cars.
Does anyone know if VP22 or earlier were ever sold to customers?
EDIT: Found a follow-up e-mail offering VP21 for sale. So that would bring the possible number up to 12 or 13.
Signature Roadster #20 is alive and well in the Pacific Northwest. It was purchased from the original owner at an auction to benefit Plug In America.
The picture below is of a number of Roadsters that turned up to celebrate the addition of a Roadster (on loan) to the Lemay car museum in Tacoma. They also have an EV-1 on display as well as some solar electric vehicles. Roadster #20 is the red one in the foreground. It is used for fun and to promote the Washington Electric Vehicle Advocacy PAC. (There are unfortunately many entrenched interests that have aligned to oppose the growth of electric cars).
(btw - I believe the silver Roadster near the museum is a VP)
The picture below is of a number of Roadsters that turned up to celebrate the addition of a Roadster (on loan) to the Lemay car museum in Tacoma. They also have an EV-1 on display as well as some solar electric vehicles. Roadster #20 is the red one in the foreground. It is used for fun and to promote the Washington Electric Vehicle Advocacy PAC. (There are unfortunately many entrenched interests that have aligned to oppose the growth of electric cars).
(btw - I believe the silver Roadster near the museum is a VP)
ChadS
Last tank of gas: March 2009
Here's another picture of #20, from 4 years earlier (with the original owner, Linda - a Plug In America founder, and the donor for the auction). This was taken in Los Angeles.
In both pictures, the yellow car to the right of it is my #690.
In both pictures, the yellow car to the right of it is my #690.
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