Roadster VIN list

Daniel, before you get too deep into this project, search posts by TEG...

Agreed with Jaff. I'm convinced that TEG is the closest human alive to succeeding at this. I started doing the same thing nearly four years ago, and I'm probably at 1/4th of the Roadsters he has knowledge of (I have 378 cars logged, US production only). I would say that the majority of those I have located here on the forum in older posts.

DeedWest said:

Agreed with Jaff. I'm convinced that TEG is the closest human alive to succeeding at this. I started doing the same thing nearly four years ago, and I'm probably at 1/4th of the Roadsters he has knowledge of (I have 378 cars logged, US production only). I would say that the majority of those I have located here on the forum in older posts.

Click to expand...

Can confirm: DeedWest has an extensive list, but TEG has the Rosetta Stone when it comes to info/pics/history of basically every Roadster out there.

Has anyone who curates this data considered making it publicly accessible, or creating a new list/wiki for public consumption?

Even a Google spreadsheet would be helpful and interesting.

So, I gave a high level view of what I assembled for NORTH AMERICAN Roadsters in this thread:
Roadster History North America
When I posted this:


I think I know of close to 100% of North American Roadster VINs, which tell us things like production year and sport/non-sport, but not much else.

That's impressive!

TEG your list does not appear to include my #425 Very Orange+Black/Orange interior - built in May 2009, now in San Mateo CA

Hey TEG, quick question, do you know anything about North American Roadster #858? I believe it's a twilight blue Roadster.

ecarfan said:

TEG your list does not appear to include my #425 Very Orange+Black/Orange interior - built in May 2009, now in San Mateo CA

Click to expand...

I only gave a list of assembled in Hethel SFZRE cars.
Many of the EPs, VPs, and Founders' ended up in North America (since USA assembly didn't start until later), but the later SFZRE cars were all being made for Europe/Asia.

I am keeping my North American 5YJRE list to myself for now.
So, I didn't include any specifics for North American production from P12 through P1464...

- - - Updated - - -

josh-io said:

Hey TEG, quick question, do you know anything about North American Roadster #858? I believe it's a twilight blue Roadster.

Click to expand...

First registered in Mound, Minnesota 8/16/2010
Twilight Blue with Carbon fiber dash.
Silver finish forged wheels.
Black edge sport seats with light gray interior trim.
Sold 10/18/2012 for $79,900 when it had 3900 miles on the ODO.

Nice looking car!

TEG, my apologies, I misread your post.

TEG said:

I am keeping my North American 5YJRE list to myself for now.

Click to expand...

Just curious - why? Do you have a project in mind?

I love that you have all this info though. Would be such a shame if it didn't exist.

SFZRE2B14B3000821 Arctic White + Black/Black - 2.5 non sport Belgium

MileHighMotoring said:

Just curious - why? Do you have a project in mind?

I love that you have all this info though. Would be such a shame if it didn't exist.

Click to expand...

I'd assume that much of his information was acquired through methods that prohibit redistribution, or have other legal restrictions.

I doubt he'd have posted all that data last week if that were true. Just wondering the use of it if not shared.

MileHighMotoring said:

I doubt he'd have posted all that data last week if that were true. Just wondering the use of it if not shared.

Click to expand...

But that was all non-US data.

DeedWest said:

Agreed with Jaff. I'm convinced that TEG is the closest human alive to succeeding at this. I started doing the same thing nearly four years ago, and I'm probably at 1/4th of the Roadsters he has knowledge of (I have 378 cars logged, US production only). I would say that the majority of those I have located here on the forum in older posts.

Click to expand...

I thought we all agreed that TEG was really a Cray super computer...:wink::smile:

Thanks again for all of your efforts TEG!

MileHighMotoring said:

I doubt he'd have posted all that data last week if that were true. Just wondering the use of it if not shared.

Click to expand...

How about a book by TEG about "The history of Tesla Roadster"?

Now that would be a nice book to have.... TEG?

ATC@LWSK said:

How about a book by TEG about "The history of Tesla Roadster"?

Now that would be a nice book to have.... TEG?

Click to expand...

+1 Even an e-book / pdf would be fantastic.

supersnoop said:

I'd assume that much of his information was acquired through methods that prohibit redistribution, or have other legal restrictions.

Click to expand...

No...
I built up a list by looking at cars I saw in person, in public places, and noting the VIN / color combinations.
And then even more by noting all the details whenever I saw a for-sale listing on places like eBay, craigslist, auto dealer web sites, etc.
This is information that basically anyone could have built up if they were equally fanatical, persistent, and willing to spend a ridiculous amount of time doing something of limited value.
Also, the Roadster VIN sequence is relatively straightforward, so I built a script to generate the VINs (of what I figured were) all possible Roadsters, and did automated web searches on those VINs to find any mention online.
I suppose that means my list is more complete than it would be for someone who doesn't know how to automate things like that.
Also, my list is much more complete in North America because of web sites that let you look up the VIN based on license plate number. So, all those web photos including a license plate ended up in my VIN list.

Special thanks to Carfax for showing how many records they have on file for a VIN. Even if I don't pay to look up the details, I can validate that the VIN is for a real car that got registered by someone in the USA.

- - - Updated - - -

MileHighMotoring said:

Just curious - why? Do you have a project in mind?
I love that you have all this info though. Would be such a shame if it didn't exist.

Click to expand...

No specific project in mind. Still working to update the list, and may just release the whole thing someday. Waiting to see if anyone comes forward and objects to that thought. Send me PM if you think it is a bad idea...

Already, I am starting to get more and more PMs with people asking me specific questions about specific cars. I try to oblige when I can, but hopefully it doesn't become overwhelming.

By the way, when Model S came out, and people started work on "VIN decoder", I thought to myself that I would rather use my time on something else, and so just decided to stop after researching Roadster like this.

Also, I was probably inspired by seeing previous VIN lists on other "exotic" cars like this:
Deciphering the McLaren F1 VINs - Car Forums and Automotive Chat