Has everyone lost their mind or are EVs now collectable?
For the most part, collectable cars run on gasoline. Few use diesel and even fewer are steam-powered. Then there are the electric vehicles, the ones you plug in like your iPhone or washing machine. There have been few EVs which have really made waves on the market, but there’s a trio of first-gen Tesla Roadsters which might help break that dry streak.
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According to Gruber Motors, which is handling the auction of all three Roadsters, they were purchased by a customer in China back in 2010. However, the buyer abandoned them at the dock in his country and there they’ve sat for 13 years, accruing all kinds of storage fees. However, someone found out about the cars and paid the fees, taking legal possession of them.
The thing is all three electric sports cars are about as mint as you can get. However, nobody knows if they will even turn on. As Gruber admits in its listing, nobody knows if the ESS pack service plugs were pulled before the Teslas were shipped. If so, there’s a good chance the batteries are toast and must be replaced before the cars can be driven.
For a lot of people, the prospect of buying a vehicle which Elon Musk himself has said wasn’t all that well designed. Range and performance were problematic, to say the least, and using the Lotus chassis required many compromises. Yet some people are waxing nostalgic for these EVs a little over a decade after their release.
Currently, the high bid on all three cars is $800,000 USD. That’s not a shabby amount considering these cars are just over a decade old. Sure, there are modern collectables which far surpass these in value, but it’s pretty interesting to see how this process is playing out. Will they crack a million before bidding is over?
Images via Gruber Motors
