Remember when the first Tesla Roadster was released? Back in the days before EV performance and electric motors in supercars were the norm, the Roadster was this weird out-there thing. Now, though, it seems they’re ending up the way all cars do: As beat-to-hell examples available on Facebook Marketplace with salvage titles.
This 2011 Tesla Roadster, a later model within the car’s lifespan, is on Marketplace with a four-color body and no hood. Weirdly, the listing has a price but the seller isn’t “really interested in cash offers” — he’s looking for trades for an “older sports car.” In exchange for a Tesla Roadster with a salvage title. That doesn’t run. Good luck.
If you do happen to have a $40,000 MGB laying around, that you’d rather part with, the Tesla is an interesting proposition. It’s old enough to pass the Elon benchmark, and being this well-used its purchase certainly isn’t going to materially benefit Musk. In concept, stripping out a salvage-title Roadster to make a track weapon is an extremely cool proposition.
In practice, this one would need plenty of electrical tinkering. The seller claims he was intending to “engine” swap it, making the purchase a truly unintelligible move. $40,000 would get you a fully working Lotus, and the only distinction here is the motor that doesn’t work. Why swap it, unless you’re looking to install a newer EV drivetrain? Putting an engine in here is boring. Fixing it up into an electric track car is cool.
This may be the most attainable Roadster out there, and some enterprising engineer should fix it up into something extremely cool. Hopefully that’ll be you, because then you can keep me posted and I can write about your build. Get that $40,000 MG ready.