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Tesla Rally DC - Nov 1 2009

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11+ Roadster owners met for lunch downtown DC only a block from the White House. We met the new DC Regional Sales Manager Tari Cash (see photo below). I was impressed with her professionalism, her energy, and her knowledge. We then drove on a tour of the monuments for some photo ops and to draw attention (we did).

At the Capital we drew a crowd, which was difficult to keep at bay in order for the photographer to take his shots. Some owners were letting strangers sit in their cars, and some strangers were just jumping in our cars without asking (happened to me).

One thing I noticed when we were driving in a group was the silence. When you're driving on a relatively busy city street and you're surrounded only by Roadsters, it's eerily quiet. If this is what the future holds for roadway travel when most of the cars are EVs, I like it!

The Tesla VP car there had the final design of the carbon fiber door sill installed (see photo below).

Tari told us the final location of the DC sales and service center has been selected. She couldn't be specific but said it was on F Street near the Verizon Center. It should open December or January -- shooting for December, but you know how that goes. The service center part will open for business a few months later.

It was a great time. I want to do it again. I'm told we will, in the spring.

Photos:

All lined up after lunch, getting ready to depart on the drive:
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Photo Op at the Capital:
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Tari Cash, DC Regional Sales Manager (on the left):
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Setting up for another Photo Op:
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Final design of the carbon fiber door sill:
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Getting dark, heading out:
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At the Capital we drew a crowd, which was difficult to keep at bay in order for the photographer to take his shots. Some owners were letting strangers sit in their cars, and some strangers were just jumping in our cars without asking (happened to me).

We've taken our Roadster to a number of shows and I've had a few instances of some clown trying to get into the car without asking. So, I just keep it locked when I'm not opening it up for someone who did ask. Once I even had an idiot repeatedly pressing really hard on the door release when it didn't open the first time.

Fortunately, in my experience, that sort of obnoxious behavior represents a tiny minority of most people who want to see the car. Most people are very respectful.
 
Very interesting experiences with Roadster! We can imagine some level of damage to vehicles by unruly "fans".

Will Model S owners have similar incidents? That would be a good topic for discussion and speculation.