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TEG

Teslafanatic
Moderator
Aug 20, 2006
22,101
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As many of you know, I have had a 'hobby' of trying to figure out the VIN #s of various Roadsters in pictures posted to the Internet.

At various times some internet services let you put in a plate # and it would tell you the VIN for that car.

Well, I have a collection of some photos of Roadsters where I never could get a response on the license plate. Out of curiosity, I am wondering if anyone recognizes any of these Roadsters and know which # they might be:

(Maybe in Texas):
7246003-IN-TEXAS-Oct2009.jpg


(California - SFO airport):
Tesla-SFO2.jpg


(Colorado):
DenverCO.jpg



(Connecticut):

CT-380YDW.jpg


(Delaware):
DE-LECCY.jpg


(Florida):
rtlrcl-2.png


(Illinois):
IL-N379837.jpg


(Ohio):
OH-EQG1470.jpg


(Oklahoma):
OK-BATINCL.jpg


New Jersey:
NJ-YVW-96U.jpg


Texas:
texas1.jpg


- - - Updated - - -

And this one is some sort of interesting oddity:
hi-euro.jpg


It seems to be a European spec roadster photographed in Japan with Hawaiian plates.

I am guessing maybe the plates were "dummy plates" used for movies and such?
It looks like there might be some sort of cover plate covering over a European license plate underneath.
Anyone know the story behind the series of pictures of that car?
 

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Maryland looks a whole lot like my #1213, but from what I remember the previous owner lived in Virginia. Any confirmation on that?

On a side note, I hope to have even half of your Roadster information someday. I've been researching heavily for over four years and have logged close to 400 of them. A good amount of which, are probably from your help. I'm glad someone shares my strange obsession!
 
Maryland looks a whole lot like my #1213, but from what I remember the previous owner lived in Virginia. Any confirmation on that?

Yeah, the photo was apparently taken in Alexandria, Virginia on 03/10/12:
Tesla Roadster spotted in Alexandria, Virginia on 03/11/2012, photo 2
attachment.php


But the plates look like Maryland "War of 1812" plates to me:
1812tag.png



Tesla Roadster spotted in Alexandria, Virginia on 03/11/2012

Front view:
45293.jpg


Does #1213 have black seats, and did it come with a black hard top?
 
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At least some of that series you referenced were shot in Kobe. And Lalaport is in Tokyo Harbor. Interesting the red Model S is a Signature - that one's in Kobe. "Raneko" is, of course, a Japanese name - but she could be from Hawaii, too, naturally.
 
1213 has premium black Sport seats. That's her!!! Previous owner had the Carbon Fiber Hard Top, but unfortunately it wasn't included when I purchased. They also kept the 110V cable. But...how exciting!

EDIT: I just remembered that the Alpine unit (Electronics Group) had the previous address saved, which was in fact from Alexandria, Virginia. How neat! I believe I'm the third owner, as the second owner in Virginia only had the car for eight months (less than 1,000 miles), so it's possible the first owner was from Maryland.
 
At least some of that series you referenced were shot in Kobe. And Lalaport is in Tokyo Harbor. Interesting the red Model S is a Signature - that one's in Kobe. "Raneko" is, of course, a Japanese name - but she could be from Hawaii, too, naturally.

Yes, and later photos have a SpaceX sticker on both the Roadster and the Model S. I wonder if they have some business relationship with SpaceX or just a fan.
Not sure how they get away running that Roadster so long on Hawaii plates in Japan. The plates never turned up as being active in Hawaii from what I could tell.
Has that Roadster ever actually been in Hawaii?

By the way, Raneko is an awesome photographer and seems to really be into their Teslas.
 
Yes! That's required in Texas. Used to be two stickers on the front windshield, but recently changed to one, as inspection is now integrated with the registration sticker (thankfully)

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1434324324.042089.jpg

Here she is with my roommate's 2015 Indian Scout & friend's Honda Goldwing...for any bike fanatics out there...
 
The blue 0 gas is 255 that is now registered in TN. I purchased it from the person in Connecticut as he was moving to Canada. As this is a 1.5 he was not allowed to register it as the certification testing was not done on the first year roadsters.
 
The blue 0 gas is 255 that is now registered in TN. I purchased it from the person in Connecticut as he was moving to Canada. As this is a 1.5 he was not allowed to register it as the certification testing was not done on the first year roadsters.

Oh, yes. I went back and found out more about #255.

I think it used to have a different plate:
CT-1DBS2.jpg


And the old for sale listing PDF (back when it had 550 miles on the ODO) had the CT plates:
listing1.png
 
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One can only guess. I would assume that by now dozens (possible over 100?) have been wrecked.
It would be great to have a website dedicated to tracking all the Roadsters still in existence. Owners could submit data about their cars, and as little or as much data about themselves as they wished. Here is an example of such a site for a rather obscure Porsche 356 model Convertible D Registry (only 1,331 "Convertible D" cars were manufactured, compared to about 2,500 Roadsters)
However, it takes quite a bit of time and effort to operate and maintain such a site, as cars are regularly being bought and sold. And obviously not all owners will want to participate and have their cars listed, and many owners will be unaware of such a site. But if there is a Roadster enthusiast who wants to put the effort into creating such a site and maintaining it, go for it.
 
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...Here is an example of such a site for a rather obscure Porsche 356 model Convertible D Registry (only 1,331 "Convertible D" cars were manufactured, compared to about 2,500 Roadsters)
However, it takes quite a bit of time and effort to operate and maintain such a site, as cars are regularly being bought and sold. And obviously not all owners will want to participate and have their cars listed, and many owners will be unaware of such a site. But if there is a Roadster enthusiast who wants to put the effort into creating such a site and maintaining it, go for it. 

Funny that you mention that car. I worked with a guy who collects and restores many of them. His passion was part of my inspiration for trying to keep track of all the Roadsters produced.
I try to keep track of color combos and state of delivery, and have a good list, but basically only for Menlo Park produced cars, not the ones made in Hethel.

Possibly some day I might start a registry site.
 
The NY plated green roadster with the tan interior is a local Dr's. here in the Buffalo area. He drives it year round as you can see in the pics. I can find out the vin for you the next time I run into him. It is a 2010. 2.0 with I believe 45,xxx miles on it now! Just saw him at an all EV event in Penfield, N.Y. in May (Part of Rochester.) I was there with my glacier blue 08 roadster.....
 
The NY plated green roadster with the tan interior is a local Dr's. here in the Buffalo area. He drives it year round as you can see in the pics. I can find out the vin for you the next time I run into him. It is a 2010. 2.0 with I believe 45,xxx miles on it now! Just saw him at an all EV event in Penfield, N.Y. in May (Part of Rochester.) I was there with my glacier blue 08 roadster.....

That's Bill H.'s 2011 2.5 Roadster.

He was also present at the 2014 National Drive Electric Week event in Syracuse (as seen in the video here).

Based on some quick research, it looks like he recently traded it in for a Cadillac ELR (quite a change IMO)

edit1: pretty sure this is the VIN (which brings up some interesting search results on this site): 5YJRE1A19B1001333
edit2: removed some details
 
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Yeah, I think you're right...it was Bill's.

Bill comes up here for the odd GHEVA (Golden Horseshoe Electric Vehicle Association) event...He had mentioned a month or two ago about possibly trading the Roadster in on an ELR...

That's Bill H.'s 2011 2.5 Roadster.

He was also present at the 2014 National Drive Electric Week event in Syracuse (as seen in the video here).

Based on some quick research, it looks like he recently traded it in for a Cadillac ELR (quite a change IMO)

edit1: pretty sure this is the VIN (which brings up some interesting search results on this site): 5YJRE1A19B1001333
edit2: removed some details