The yellow Mule 1 started its life as a gasoline-powered Lotus Elise: an Italian-spec car with the Rover K-Series engine. Lotus imported the car to the US for show before they had any US-spec cars. When they were done with it, they could not sell it for road use in the US because it was not DOT-compliant, and it was not worthwhile to ship it back to Europe. Tesla bought it relatively cheaply from Lotus for conversion. The car was pretty much completely dismantled by the early Tesla crew, then re-assembled with early prototype drivetrain components.
I was the guy who got to take the sawzall to the Elise
Mule 2 was not based on an Italian Elise at all. It was based on a chassis that was not completed to a car at the factory. Its rear subframe was modified in Hethel to accommodate prototype drivetrain components to be installed in San Carlos, and to increase the wheelbase 2" to the Tesla spec. A red Elise body was "cut and shut" (lengthened) to fit the elongated chassis, but this body was on the car for a very short time before the fiberglass Tesla body was created.
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