January, 2013: I had my car for just over a month and a half. Liz G and I put our cars in the St. Louis Auto Show, a 4-day event that saw us utterly MOBBED by the public wanting to see the Model S. They were put up on a 2 foot stage for people to see. We had *just* gotten our rear-facing seat installed, which was a big big hit. For the average person, just seeing the car and talking to us was fine, but I let roughly 100 people sit in the car during the course of the event. My rules were basically "no food/drink, no coats, nothing in your pockets, be very careful, it's privately-owned" - and I personally supervised each one. I only had one situation where someone tried to climb on stage, then got indignant when I asked him not to, he left after I started to call security.
Was I nervous? Yes. At that time, there was no service center nearby, if anything happened it had to go to Chicago! I felt it was important for those truly interested to be able to see the car, and I believed Tesla would be reasonably kind in helping to deal with anything had it gone wrong.
I would tell new owners "don't be afraid". I certainly understand if you want to keep everything absolutely pristine and not have anyone touch it, and that's your prerogative. I consider my vehicle to be a utility, and so I figure careful adults aren't going to beat it up more than my kids are.
Liz was a bit more cautious, she had only had her car for a week!
The calm before the storm:
...and there's just something fun about getting to drive your car in an NFL stadium.
If Tesla gets our Model X to us in time, it'll be seen in St. Louis Jan 28-31 this year.
PS: want to see something scary? Here's Liz's car being loaded onto the stage:
Tesla Model S St Louis Auto Show 2013 - YouTube