A few days back, three brand-new original Tesla Roadsters were discovered sitting in a shipping container in China for over a decade. Now they are up for sale and can end up selling for a lot of money, making them the perfect modern-day barn finds. According to a report by Electrek, the trio of unused Roadsters arrived in the country in 2010 and were subsequently abandoned by the owner. The electric sportscars have stayed inside a shipping container in a Chinese dock for their entire life, aesthetically preserving them in brand-new condition. The cars have accrued storage charges into six figures, which the seller is ready to pay.
The three Tesla Roadsters – two in orange and one in red – are being auctioned via Gruber Motors. The US-based specializes in fixing first-generation Roadsters. The Roadsters are cosmetically in great condition since they have stayed sealed ever since they reached China. The cars even have the factory paper floor mats intact. However, reviving an electric car parked for decades is a lot more complicated than a combustion-engine automobile. Since the battery packs powering the vehicles have not been charged for more than a decade, they might have been depleted beyond the point where they can be reused. Gruber says it won’t be able to ascertain the condition of the batteries until it gets its hands on the vehicles.
According to the listing, the Roadsters will be brought back to the USA by mid-May, unless a sale occurs before then. Described as “No miles on odometer, brand new, bricked from day one,” currently the highest bid for all three Roadsters together stands at $750,000, which is astonishing. However, they might end up selling for more than a million dollars judging by the attention it’s getting among collectors.
The first-generation Roadster was the first car launched by Tesla. Based on a Lotus Elise, it came with a 53 kWh battery pack that gave it a range of up to 244 miles. The electric sports car had 300 horsepower on tap, giving it a 0-60 mph time of 3.7 seconds. The original Roadster is a rare automobile as the American manufacturer produced just over 2,000 examples between 2008 and 2011.
