How I Bought A Tesla Roadster For $6,000

So I never thought that this would be possible, but it's official: I just purchased a mint-conditioned Tesla Roadster for $6,000. And if that sounds absolutely insane, here's how I did it.

First of all, the Tesla Roadster is not just another all-electric sports car; it was the original. When Elon Musk acquired Tesla in 2004 as a Silicon Valley startup, their immediate short-term vision was to showcase the possibilities of an all-electric drivetrain. Keep in mind, back in 2008, an electric sports car was a crazy concept during a time where every other auto manufacturer was maximizing horsepower and torque while seeing how many cylinders they could cram behind the driver's seat.

But Tesla took the opposite approach with a car that you could plug in at home, and it turned out to be groundbreaking. It could achieve up to 245 miles on a single charge. Its performance was comparable to that of a lightweight gas-powered sports car, and it hit 0 to 60 in just 3.7 seconds. But even more remarkable was that it was powered by the same lithium-ion batteries that almost everyone has in their laptop. This car not only changed the game for all-electric vehicles, but it also made Tesla a household name as a company now worth over a trillion dollars.

As mentioned by Elon Musk himself, you know you're not just buying a sports car; you're actually helping pay for the development of the mass-market vehicles. And with that, the Roadster was born. Only 2,450 of these cars were produced between 2008 and 2012, and now it's estimated that only about 1,500 of them remain. Over time, more and more were lost to damage, building fires, and the worst of all, a lack of parts. The components of this car were so difficult to source and replace that Tesla service centers would buy back customer cars just to disassemble them to keep the remaining Roadsters running.

That means the original Roadster became more and more rare. For reference, they produced 1,270 Porsche Carrera GTS, which now sell for well over a million dollars. They made 438 SLS AMG Goldwings, and those currently have a floor price of $400,000. Not to mention the SLS AMG Goldwing has roughly 8,000 examples worldwide now selling for about $250,000.

So how is it that a limited production Tesla Roadster, with about 1,500 units remaining and the only car to be floating around in space, could be selling for less than every other limited edition vehicle? It was at that point that I realized this car is quite literally a piece of history from a company that completely revolutionized the way we operate automobiles. So I began my mission to find one.

Now for those unfamiliar with my channel, this is not my first run-in with Tesla. In 2019, I documented the process of buying a $35,000 Tesla Model 3, and the moment I took delivery of that car, I was hooked. Sitting behind the wheel of an all-electric, self-driving car completely changed the way I viewed automobiles, and I just knew that this was the direction of the future.

So, right after I drove home, I made my first of many investments into Tesla stock back when it was originally trading at $50 a share. But I think we can all agree that there is a substantial difference between buying a Model 3 online versus hunting down a secondhand, decade-old sports car where only a few exist at any given time for sale.

So when one came up for auction at bringatrailer.com, I was in. The car was in perfect condition: 10,000 miles, every single option, and a $140,000 original MSRP sticker price. So here's what happened. It really comes down to, is this car a better investment than the stock?

I'm the highest bidder at 117; you have over 1,300 people watching. Graham is the highest bidder at 122,570, 123,570. No, I feel like at this point it's really not meant to be. I can't go against what I wanted to do, and I think there will be a Tesla Roadster in the future.

Oh man, I'll admit it was defeating to not win the auction, but I didn't want to give up. So I flew all the way to Seattle, Washington, to meet the man who helped to make the Tesla Roadster what it is today: Carl Medlock.

"I found it. Tesla called me and offered me a job in 2008, and I didn't know who they were, so I said, 'Cool story,' hung up, and they called me back at the beginning of 2009 after the economy had done a bunch of stuff to my business, and I decided to take the job."

"So that is Vin 87; that is Vin 78. Vin 57 is outside; that's the one David Sties gave me. That car used to belong to Sam Simon; he was the co-founder of The Simpsons. These cars were both Canadian cars and both delivered the same day because I was there when they were delivered."

"If you look at the history of electric cars, nobody's really interested in electric cars. You know the Volt didn't take off; you know the Leaf is a great utilitarian vehicle, but this is a sports car, and it's electric. It's quick; it's fast. This car changed the whole landscape of cars on the road today. Two years ago, these cars were worth $40,000. A yellow car was worth $50,000. Now I'm buying parts cars for $43,000 that are half gone. The parts for these cars are so hard to find; nobody's making these right except us. This to duplicate this board, 60 grand; paying $334 and getting one chip off of here or one thing is worth it to me. Like this is a one of one that I'm aware of. It has Alcantara seats in it. And at a yellow 1462, which is the last car production car made, that car is going to be a million-dollar car. Some of the early cars with provenance are going to be a million-dollar car like David St.'s car will be. I think all of them are going to be worth money—big money. This is a $5,000 parts car back then; now this is, you know, I paid $36,000, $39,000 for this car. Look how much is—there's nothing left."

Oh my gosh, it was at that point that I knew I was not leaving without one of those cars. And the one that stood out the most was the unassuming yellow car just sitting there, because in my entire history of looking at Roadsters, I have never once seen a yellow one for sale.

"Well, this car is pretty special. It is one of the 26 yellows; it also has Alcantara seats in it, which I think is the only one, but I'm not for sure. I'm going to find out. Um, and it is incredibly rare; it's just the most sought-after color. This car is all original. I mean, it has— even down to its battery, all the components are original, so this car has never been played with. There you go. Now the car's ready to drive."

"This car has its original battery in it, and as long as you don't abuse them and get them hot, they'll last. Well, this car is 10 years old, and the battery is in really good shape. I love it."

"Okay, I'll take it." Deal!

No, just kidding, guys! I bought the car two weeks ago, sight unseen, sent the money in, and this is my first time seeing it. The car is incredible! This is the rarest car that's here other than a couple of low VIN number cars which have actor provenance. There really is nothing any rarer than this car sitting here. There are lower VINs, but there's not a lower number color car here. There is another car here that's the same color as this but have a battery. Yeah, so as far as what's here and running and driving, this is the car.

Of course, here's where we get to the interesting part, because even though the price on paper is over $100,000, this car actually cost me just $66,000 out of pocket—all because of a single investment that I made three years ago in Tesla stock. That's right: my very first purchase in Tesla stock on the day I purchased my Model 3 turned into the amount that I needed to purchase this one of 26 original Tesla Roadsters.

And if you think I'm crazy for selling off some of my Tesla stock at $1,028 a share, maybe—first of all, for some context: had you invested $100,000 in Tesla stock back in 2011 instead of buying the car, your $100,000 would now be worth $17 million. But back when I bought my Model 3 in 2019, when Tesla was seen as somewhat of a struggling car company, even though I didn't necessarily look at the purchase as an opportunity cost, I did make it a point to invest just as much money as I could into the stock without any expectation of it ever paying off.

Although in hindsight, it played out quite well and was up over 2,000%. Although, of course, over that time I've taken some profits along the way, I've kept some of my original shares, and I bought a lot more prior to their 5-to-1 stock split. But at this point in time, I'm taking the stance that long-term this car will hold its value just as well, if not better, than the stock. I would say in five years, going to be a bunch of these in museums; the last production car is worth about a million, and this is a way for me to diversify my assets outside of the company by owning a piece of their history.

At the exact same time, I thought, you know what, I want to sell this guy a car. He makes videos; he's going to like the car; he's going to enjoy the car. This car's going to end up in a different video somewhere else, right? I think it'd be fun.

No, don't get the wrong idea; I'm still holding the majority of my Tesla stock, and I'm still bullish on the company long-term. But there is something to be said about the milestone of turning numbers on a screen into a real tangible piece of history—all thanks to Tesla having such a great community and being such a fantastic company.

The community, the Facebook group for these cars, is so tight; they're such a nice group of people. I could fly to France right now and have a place to stay. I could go to Spain and have a place to stay. I could go to the UK and have a place to stay. Anywhere in the world, there's one of these cars; I could find a place to stay. They're just—the doors are open; they're just really nice people.

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. Also, feel free to add me on Instagram, and till next time!