Hey everyone. I am the proud owner of the Tesla Mule One from Jenn Dietsch, as listed here on Lotustalk some time ago.
I've been trying for some time to uncover the story of this car, the original Tesla test vehicle. Much of the story is on Tesla - Where It All Began | The first Tesla. After it was stripped for parts to make the Mule 2, it changed owners a few times.
The first wanted to turn it into a race car, probably thinking he just had a stripped Elise chassis; but no, this is much more (and less!) than that. It would be a huge job to put an ICE motor back in - all the wiring harnesses are cut, and anything even resembling the original drivetrain is gone.
The second, as goes the story, was Rob & Jenn Dietsch, who held onto it for years in San Jose and elsewhere. And the third owner is me.
It's now up at the Electrified Garage in Seabrook NH. As many of you know, Rich Benoit aka Rich Rebuilds is a partner in that garage, and so the car can be seen on his Twitter/Reddit and you can spy it in the background of some of his build videos in various states of disassembly. Chad, also at Electrified Garage, is one of the best Tesla techs out there, and serviced Roadsters back at his days at the company. He is one of the best independent links to the past of this car, although he wasn't at Tesla far back enough to have seen it being built.
If you or someone you know was around to see this car in use, please contact me, as any and all information is helpful toward the rebuild.
Here are some pictures of it as it arrived:
![1274199]( "1274199")
![1274200]( "1274200")
![1274201]( "1274201")
And an interior shot:
![1274202]( "1274202")
More to come.
I've been trying for some time to uncover the story of this car, the original Tesla test vehicle. Much of the story is on Tesla - Where It All Began | The first Tesla. After it was stripped for parts to make the Mule 2, it changed owners a few times.
The first wanted to turn it into a race car, probably thinking he just had a stripped Elise chassis; but no, this is much more (and less!) than that. It would be a huge job to put an ICE motor back in - all the wiring harnesses are cut, and anything even resembling the original drivetrain is gone.
The second, as goes the story, was Rob & Jenn Dietsch, who held onto it for years in San Jose and elsewhere. And the third owner is me.
It's now up at the Electrified Garage in Seabrook NH. As many of you know, Rich Benoit aka Rich Rebuilds is a partner in that garage, and so the car can be seen on his Twitter/Reddit and you can spy it in the background of some of his build videos in various states of disassembly. Chad, also at Electrified Garage, is one of the best Tesla techs out there, and serviced Roadsters back at his days at the company. He is one of the best independent links to the past of this car, although he wasn't at Tesla far back enough to have seen it being built.
If you or someone you know was around to see this car in use, please contact me, as any and all information is helpful toward the rebuild.
Here are some pictures of it as it arrived:
And an interior shot:
More to come.
