Prototype Tesla On eBay For $1 Million

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
If you have an extra million in cash lying around, you can snag one of only 33 Tesla prototypes on eBay today. Why so much? The seller has a pretty good point if you look at this car as a collectors item or investment but it's still too rich for my blood.

A million dollar Tesla may be crazy today but with vintage Ferrari's going for $15M+, imagine what the first Ferrari prototype models would go for. Take that 30 years into the future when most cars are electric and they'll be able to trace their history back to Tesla, the company that is changing the industry, and this being a prototype of its first model. Historic and super sporty.
 
Hmmm, other vintage vehicles at least have the option of still being in a 'running' condition decades down the line. 30 years from now, or more, I don't think the battery on this Roadster will hold it's charge much, if at all, and good luck finding/getting a replacement. At that point it won't be a car more than it'll be a giant piece of EV history. I don't see the value going up much as the years progress simply because it's not like other cars due to the battery.
 
What Sonicks said. They'd need to release some sort of universal charge/usage api and programming, and instructions for manual replacement of the battery. Otherwise it'll be a paperweight.
 
Hmmm, other vintage vehicles at least have the option of still being in a 'running' condition decades down the line. 30 years from now, or more, I don't think the battery on this Roadster will hold it's charge much, if at all, and good luck finding/getting a replacement. At that point it won't be a car more than it'll be a giant piece of EV history. I don't see the value going up much as the years progress simply because it's not like other cars due to the battery.
Right, because owners of vintage vehicles never fabricate parts or anything like that. :rolleyes:

It's a battery. A new one can be made. In 30 years it might be smaller and hold more energy and use a different charging technology and plug, but I'm fairly sure an electrical/physical adapter can be made to make it work. It's not like the electrons will be unleaded in the future.
 
Right, because owners of vintage vehicles never fabricate parts or anything like that. :rolleyes:

It's a battery. A new one can be made. In 30 years it might be smaller and hold more energy and use a different charging technology and plug, but I'm fairly sure an electrical/physical adapter can be made to make it work. It's not like the electrons will be unleaded in the future.

Yes, I realize that most collectors can and do make parts to get old vehicles in running conditions and it's not out of the question that a replacement battery can be produced for the Roadster but given how 'new' electric cars are and how proprietary the electrics can be, I don't see it as a guarantee. Basically all I'm really saying is that I don't think the value will increase as dramatically over time in the same way other vintage vehicles do.
 
Yes, I realize that most collectors can and do make parts to get old vehicles in running conditions and it's not out of the question that a replacement battery can be produced for the Roadster but given how 'new' electric cars are and how proprietary the electrics can be, I don't see it as a guarantee. Basically all I'm really saying is that I don't think the value will increase as dramatically over time in the same way other vintage vehicles do.
Except that same shit can be said about every prototype of it's time, ever, or every super exotic, ever. they are all proprietary super exotic sourced material made vehicles that until recently weren't even guaranteed to actually work new, much less old. But here we are, they're still going, people still maintain them somehow despite all that. This is not a special snowflake in this regard.
 
Don't the roadsters sell for like 100 grand? I guess if you have hundred of millions or billions, it's no big deal, but this is a bit much.
 
Right, because owners of vintage vehicles never fabricate parts or anything like that. :rolleyes:

It's a battery. A new one can be made. In 30 years it might be smaller and hold more energy and use a different charging technology and plug, but I'm fairly sure an electrical/physical adapter can be made to make it work. It's not like the electrons will be unleaded in the future.

Undoubtedly a battery of that size has integrated, encrypted fail-safe electronics. You won't be making a custom battery most likely.
 
aren't all of the roadsters considered prototypes? dont they have a historically long bootup time? I remember reading one article where the car BSODed on the driver. the things you do to get investor funding :D
 
At least you don't have to worry about the autopilot on this one!
 
$1 Million for a car! That is like 10,000 happy ending massages so I know which one I would choose...
 
Anybody that would pay more than the already bloated retail price of most cars today is just crazy insane IMO, and I know these are prototypes that were never tagged with an actual retail price. Even so, this person is fucking crazy insane as far as I'm concerned, just absolutely bonkers.
 
Just buy a Lotus Exige and save yourself $$$$ They look the same.

Except the Lotus is a better driving car. I mean, that's kind of the point of buying a small sports car. For the handling.
 
This isn't a car in the same sense as a prototype/vintage ferarri would be. Those cars are capable of making you feel something positive that you cant feel in any other/newer car. The way it looks, the way it drives, the sound it makes - everything about an old car makes you feel something deep inside.
Teslas are not cars in that sense, they are a piece of transportation tech. People will care about them as much as they care about old computers or old cellphones. They don't cost millions because there is only maybe a bit of nostalgia but that's it. Newer tech is better in every way. With classic cars it's different - there are some things you cannot improve in a car these days because they are not designed the same and priorities changed. So, yah. Also, seeing at all the stories about poor build quality of Teslas I doubt they will be running after 30-40 years at all..
Just my 2c.
 
This isn't a car in the same sense as a prototype/vintage ferarri would be. Those cars are capable of making you feel something positive that you cant feel in any other/newer car. The way it looks, the way it drives, the sound it makes - everything about an old car makes you feel something deep inside.
Teslas are not cars in that sense, they are a piece of transportation tech. People will care about them as much as they care about old computers or old cellphones. They don't cost millions because there is only maybe a bit of nostalgia but that's it. Newer tech is better in every way. With classic cars it's different - there are some things you cannot improve in a car these days because they are not designed the same and priorities changed. So, yah. Also, seeing at all the stories about poor build quality of Teslas I doubt they will be running after 30-40 years at all..
Just my 2c.
An Apple I prototype recently sold for just under 1 million dollars. So even as tech, it could be worth a ton of money.
 
Back
Top