CASE FILE · OG-2008
SUBJECT: TESLA ROADSTER, 1ST GENSTATUS: COLD CASE → REOPENED
REOPENED16 · OCT · 2026
LIVE INVESTIGATION · FILE OPEN

OGASTER

Original Roadster · $OGASTER

Before Tesla became an empire, there was one Roadster.

2008. The original. The beginning of everything.

You can't replace the OG.
A red first-generation Tesla Roadster parked by the water in front of a city skyline
exhibit A · "the OG"

The briefing

MEMO · FROM THE ARCHIVE · CLASSIFICATION: MEME

Everyone talks about the empire. Almost nobody remembers the car that paid for its first brick.

In July 2003 two engineers, Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning, incorporated a company called Tesla Motors.1 A few months later a payments millionaire wrote the biggest cheque of the first round: $6.5 million of $7.5 million.1

The plan was written down in public in August 2006 and it was only three lines long. Line one: build a sports car.2 That sports car was built on a Lotus Elise chassis, and by the end only about 7% of the Elise was left in it.3

About 2,450 were ever sold, in more than 30 countries, before production stopped in January 2012.3 Then the world moved on to sedans and the OG went quiet. Until one of them left the planet.

The evidence board

From a forgotten sports car to the car that flies. Every pin is a dated event with a source. Click a card to read the detective's note.

JUL 2003Tesla Motors is incorporatedMartin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning file the papers in San Carlos, California.1
+ NOTE
Five people were later allowed to call themselves co-founders, after a 2009 settlement.1
FEB 2004The chequeElon Musk puts in $6.5M of the $7.5M Series A and becomes chairman.1
+ NOTE
Without this round there is no Roadster, and without the Roadster there is no plan.
19 JUL 2006The revealThe Roadster is shown at Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, to about 350 invited guests.45
+ NOTE
Tesla called it the "Signature One Hundred" event. Guests got rides on the tarmac and many signed up as first buyers.4
2 AUG 2006The secret master plan"Build sports car. Use that money to build an affordable car. Use that money to build an even more affordable car."2
+ NOTE
The whole empire starts as step one: this exact car.
step 1 = OG
FEB 2008Delivery No. 1The first production Roadster goes to an early investor and chairman: Elon Musk.3
+ NOTE
Musk paid full price for it, like any other customer.
17 MAR 2008Production startsSeries production of Tesla's first vehicle begins. Exhibit E1 below.312
+ NOTE
Jon Erlichman marked the anniversary on X: "On this day in 2008: production starts for Tesla's first vehicle, the Roadster."12
day one
27 OCT 2009501 km on one chargeA Roadster sets a production-EV distance record in Australia.3
+ NOTE
Driven by Simon Hackett and Emilis Prelgauskas during the Global Green Challenge.3
JAN 2012Last one off the lineProduction ends. About 2,450 sold worldwide.3
+ NOTE
The case goes cold. The company moves on to the Model S.
forgotten?
16 NOV 2017A new Roadster is promised0–60 in 1.9 s, ~620 miles, over 250 mph, $200k base.6
+ NOTE
Musk called it "a hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars."6
6 FEB 2018The OG leaves EarthMusk's own 2010 Roadster rides the first Falcon Heavy into a solar orbit that crosses Mars's. A mannequin called Starman sits at the wheel, "Space Oddity" on loop, "DON'T PANIC!" on the dash.7
+ NOTE
The circuit board reads "Made on Earth by humans." Next predicted close approach to Earth: 2047.7
still out there
JUN 2018"SpaceX option package"Musk reveals cold-gas thrusters for the new Roadster.6
+ NOTE
Production slipped again and again: 2020 → 2022 → 2023 → 2024 → 2025 → 2027–28.6
15 OCT 2026It fliesAt SpaceX's McGregor, Texas site, the new Roadster runs a curled ramp upside down, launches off the end, rolls 180° in mid-air and lands on its wheels.89
+ NOTE
Tesla says the planned flying version is not approved for public roads; production is planned for 2028.810
case reopened

Where the lines came from

Every famous line in this story has an origin. We traced them.

EXHIBIT B
Build sports car. Use that money to build an affordable car.

Elon Musk, "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan", Aug 2, 20062

EXHIBIT C
More spacecraft than sports car.

Autoguide, reviewing the original Roadster3

EXHIBIT D
DON'T PANIC!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, printed on the Roadster's dash in orbit, 20187

EXHIBIT E
Made on Earth by humans.

Circuit board of the car launched on Falcon Heavy7

EXHIBIT F
A hardcore smackdown to gasoline cars.

Elon Musk on the next Roadster, 20176

EXHIBIT G
Flying cars are real.

Elon Musk at the Roadster unveil, Oct 15, 20269

EXHIBIT H
You can't replace the OG.

The community, $OGASTER, 2026

Two posts. One car. 18 years.

Exhibit E1: the day the OG went into production, remembered on X. Exhibit E2: the day after the new Roadster left the ground, from the man who took delivery of Roadster No. 1 in 2008. The car that started everything now flies.

2008
2026
THEN · 20083.9 s0–60, 244 mi range, ≈2,450 built3
THE BRIDGE · 2018SPACEthe OG is launched past Mars's orbit on Falcon Heavy7
NOW · 2026< 1 sclaimed 0–60, cold-gas thrusters, it leaves the ground89

The verdict

The empire, the sedans, the rockets, the flying car: all of it traces back to one red two-seater from 2008. You can't replace the OG.

  1. Get a wallet
    Any wallet you trust. Keep the seed phrase offline.
  2. Fund it
    Enough for the swap and a little for fees.
  3. Swap for $OGASTER
    Paste the contract below. Check it twice.
CONTRACT ADDRESS · CASE EVIDENCE
The original red Tesla Roadster by the bay
the one that started it
CASE
CLOSED

Evidence log

Every claim above links back here. Read the originals.

  1. History of Tesla, Inc. — Wikipedia (founding July 1, 2003; Series A Feb 2004; co-founder settlement)
  2. "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me)" — Elon Musk, Tesla, Aug 2, 2006
  3. Tesla Roadster (first generation) — Wikipedia (specs, deliveries, production, records, Autoguide quote)
  4. Tesla Roadster unveiled in Santa Monica — Autoblog, Jul 20, 2006
  5. Tesla Roadster debut, 10 years ago — Electrek, Jul 19, 2016
  6. Tesla Roadster (second generation) — Wikipedia (2017 promises, SpaceX package, delays, 2026 unveil)
  7. Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster — Wikipedia (Falcon Heavy, Starman, "DON'T PANIC!", orbit)
  8. Tesla's new Roadster takes flight during dramatic unveiling at SpaceX facility — Fox Business
  9. With Tesla Roadster debut, Elon Musk shows "flying cars are real" — CBS News
  10. Are Tesla's claims for its new 'flying' Roadster real? — Electrek, Oct 15, 2026
  11. The post — @elonmusk on X
  12. "On this day in 2008: production starts…" — @JonErlichman on X, Mar 17, 2026