Have you seen a Tesla supercar 13 years ago?
Recently, three brand-new, 13-year-old Tesla Roadster supercars were found in containers at a port in Qingdao, China. They stood quietly in the container, where time seemed to stop, and they were preserved for 13 years.
Image from nypost, copyright belongs to the original author
Image from nypost, copyright belongs to the original author
From the customs list inside the container, it can be found that the three Roadsters are new cars bought by the original owners, and they were abandoned in the container after being shipped to China in 2010.
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Because they owed a bunch of storage fees and could not contact the original owners, the container company was forced to open them, so that the three cars could see the light of day.
Subsequently, the container company contacted the original seller of the three vehicles, Gruber Motor Company in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and asked for a storage fee of $100,000. Today, the ownership of the three vehicles belongs to Gruber Automobiles.
The real Tesla "god car"
According to CarScoops, the three vehicles found are: an orange base Roadster and two orange and red Roadster Sports.
Image from nypost, copyright belongs to the original author
Image from nypost, copyright belongs to the original author
You may be familiar with Tesla's Model 3, Model Y, Model S, but what is the Roadster?
In fact, Roadster is Tesla's big brother-like existence.
The Roadster is Tesla Motors' first model and truly the world's first all-electric sports car. Launched in 2008 and discontinued in 2012, the Roadster sold for more than $100,000 that year and sold about 2,500 units in total.
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In 2018, Musk also used the Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a Roadster sports car into space, and the red sports car has officially entered space for 5 years, which shows the iconic significance of the Roadster model for Tesla.
The picture comes from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author
Since the first generation of the Roadster has been discontinued, thanks to their rarity, place in the history of electric vehicles and the explosion of the Tesla brand, this coupe roadster is now a hot collector's item.
After the news that the three cars were discovered, Musk even replied below the news, "These cars are getting rarer!" ", personally stamped and certified, which shows the value of these three cars.
Netizens also sighed that it is the extent of the exhibition!
"Musk should definitely buy them and show them at the Tesla factory!"
Who is the original owner?
After these three "divine cars" were discovered, netizens began to frantically speculate who bought them for huge amounts of money that year, and why they were abandoned.
All three vehicles were purchased by a Chinese buyer and then abandoned for unknown reasons, according to records. So the witty netizens began to play the detective spirit, speculating, "This buyer either went in or went down"...
There are also netizens who ridiculed that it was ordered by Jia Tingyue...
You don't say it's really possible.
The Roadsters were ordered by a Chinese start-up electric car company, but the company went bankrupt before it was able to pick them up, presumably to reverse engineer the vehicles to help develop its own products.
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Do these three cars still work?
In addition to the original owner, everyone is most concerned about whether these cars can be driven in the end?
It is reported that the three vehicles are kept in closed containers and are in very good condition, as if they have just been assembled from the production line, without any traces of wear. Moreover, the mileage of all three cars is almost 0 (only the mileage generated by the test drive).
Brand new interior in perfect preservation
Image from nypost, copyright belongs to the original author
Image from nypost, copyright belongs to the original author
Not only that, but the three cars also retain the original accessories: the trunk has an unopened box with the original charging cable. There is also a box on the outside for the removable hardtop of these roadsters.
Brand new components
But unfortunately, the batteries of these vehicles have been "bricked" because they have not been used or charged for a long time and cannot work. And the car that sits for a long time is inevitable, there will be a certain degree of degradation, such as the rubber and plastic parts of the car will become hard and brittle.
Brand new interior in perfect preservation
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But don't worry, because the three sports cars owned by Fanggruber Motors are one of the world's leading Tesla Roadster repair shops. So, even if these Teslas have some problems, I believe Gruber Motor Company will be able to fix them.
Looking for a buyer, someone offered $2 million
Seeing this, if the friends are interested in these three cars, also... It's a real possibility to buy it! Because Gruber Motor Company is looking for buyers for the three Roadster sports cars.
It is reported that "the seller currently intends to package and sell the three vehicles together". However, if you only want to buy one of them, it is not impossible.
Gruber said it might sell them separately if no buyer would be willing to buy three at the same time. And they are willing to send representatives to China to negotiate the price of the deal with any potential buyer in person.
However, the latest news points out that Gruber Motors has now received a bid for the three vehicles for $2 million. Each vehicle will be worth $666,700, which would far exceed the currently known record for the highest selling price of a Tesla Roadster.
Without higher bids, the vehicles will be shipped to Dubai, which is expected to take two to three weeks.
Image from Grubermotors, copyright belongs to the original author
But Gruber said it still accepts other offers and that potential buyers can inspect the vehicles themselves.