I won an original Tesla Roadster. AMA.
I genuinely used to assume giveaway winners were either fake, connected to the company, or some random person you would never hear from again.
Then EV Auto called me while I was at work and told me I had won an original first-generation Tesla Roadster.
I entered the giveaway like everyone else and never seriously expected anything to happen. I figured I would submit my entries, briefly imagine winning, and eventually see somebody else’s name announced online.
When the call came, my brain basically stopped working. I kept waiting for the part where they asked me to send money, buy gift cards, or click some suspicious link. Instead, they were actually telling me that I had been selected as the winner.
I already owned a modern Tesla and knew what the original Roadster was, which somehow made the news even harder to process. This was not just a random used car. It was Tesla’s original production vehicle from before the Model S, Model X, Model 3, Model Y, Cybertruck, and basically everything most people now associate with the company.
A few days later, my fiancée and I drove from Indiana to Tennessee for EV Auto’s grand-opening event in Brentwood.
We met the team, saw the green Roadster in person for the first time, talked about the car, and tried to act like this was a normal thing happening to us. Eventually, they called me forward in front of the crowd, announced that I was the winner, and handed me the keys.
Watching that moment back still feels like I am watching somebody else’s life.
The official giveaway video is here:
https://youtu.be/EtV\_\_z2LNuw?is=STKPBnQzPRmDG5R0
For anyone unfamiliar with it, this is the original Tesla Roadster, not the newer Roadster prototype Tesla has displayed over the years.
It is heavily related to the Lotus Elise, but it uses Tesla’s early electric drivetrain, battery system, electronics, charging equipment, controls, and a ridiculous collection of unusual design choices from the company’s earliest days.
That is a huge part of why I find it so fascinating. It is simultaneously:
An early electric vehicle
A rare sports car
A major piece of Tesla history
A Lotus-related vehicle
A snapshot of late-2000s technology
A car filled with systems and components that are completely different from a modern Tesla
I created this account, u/TeslaRoadsterWinner, because I plan to document the car in an honestly unreasonable amount of detail.
I do not want to post a few exterior pictures, say “look at my rare Tesla,” and disappear. I want to show what it is actually like to drive, charge, maintain, research, repair, and live with one of these cars today.
I plan to dig into things like:
Every strange button, switch, display, gauge, vent, latch, and warning light
How the removable roof works
How the original Roadster charging system works
What charging equipment and adapters it uses
Real-world charging speeds and range
Battery behavior
Acceleration, handling, steering, braking, comfort, noise, and visibility
How it compares with my modern Tesla
What parts are actually shared with the Lotus Elise
Maintenance requirements and common failures
Tires, brakes, suspension, cooling systems, electronics, and the 12-volt system
Parts availability and discontinued components
Repair, insurance, charging, and ownership costs
Original manuals, accessories, literature, and promotional material
The history of this specific Roadster
Road trips, car shows, and public reactions
Every strange discovery and unexpected problem along the way
I am not pretending that winning the car automatically made me an expert on it.
I am learning as I go, and I would genuinely love to hear from current or former Roadster owners, early Tesla employees, technicians, Lotus Elise or Exige owners, collectors, automotive historians, independent EV specialists, or anyone who has worked on one of these cars.
Any accurate information, advice, correction, warning, story, technical document, parts source, or obscure piece of Roadster history is welcome.
So ask me anything about:
How I entered the giveaway
What the winner call was like
Whether I believed it
Telling my fiancée
Driving to Tennessee
Meeting the EV Auto team
Seeing the Roadster for the first time
Being announced as the winner
What it felt like being handed the keys
What surprised me most about the car
How it compares with a modern Tesla
What I plan to investigate first
Anything shown in the official video
What you would want tested, explained, or filmed
Anything else you have ever wanted to ask somebody who somehow won an original Tesla Roadster
My inbox is also open to any and all private questions, especially from owners, former employees, technicians, collectors, or anyone with information they would rather not post publicly.
For transparency, I am not employed by EV Auto or Tesla, and I am not speaking on behalf of either company. I am simply the extremely confused person whose name somehow got selected.
I also created a YouTube channel where I will be posting the long-form Roadster deep dives:
https://youtube.com/@teslaroadsterwinner
So, Reddit: what is the very first thing you would want to know, inspect, test, or see if an original Tesla Roadster suddenly landed in your life?
AMA.