If you think Tesla's wealthy and influential client list is getting impatient to see delivery of their single-speed supercars, imagine how Martin Eberhard must feel. The co-founder and mastermind of the EV roadster was supposed to receive the #2 Tesla,. It appeared for a while that Tesla had skipped over its godfather in favor of delivering to everyone else. Now AutoblogGreen (ABG) reports that Eberhard's Tesla has arrived from the UK. Unfortunately, it suffered "significant" front-end damage at the hands of a company lacky. Or did it? Tesla's Daryl Siry told ABG that #2 was damaged on its final shakedown before delivery. Eberhard claims "It is news to me that this happened on the day the car was to be delivered." Adding insult to, well, insult, Autoblog founder Jason Calcanis notes on his blog that he will be receiving the #16 Tesla in six weeks. Calcanis jauntily contemplates giving away a Tesla on his holier-than-thou "human-powered search engine" Mahalo.com. For good measure, current Tesla Chariman Elon Musk recently declined to correct Fox Business News' Liz Claman when she called him the "creator of the Tesla" in this so-bad-it's-almost-funny pimpatorial segment. Dude, Elon, give the man his car and his props before this whole thing goes Tango Uniform.

Despite Tesla Motors' March 17th (of this year) declaration that they've put their lithium-ion-powered Roadster into production, nothing. While we wait for a single customer car to hit the streets, we thought we'd fill the time by talking about Savannah Sampson. According to Wikipedia. Ms. Sampson was born Natalie Oliveros in 1966 in Rochester New York. After training in ballet, she became an exotic dancer. From there, it was a quick chassé to the world of adult films. For the past eight years, Sampson's starred in a variety of movies such as Rocco Meats an American Angel in Paris, Big Blowout, Best Deep Throat on the Planet and Patient, Patients, Patients. Although we can cannot corroborate Wikipedia's citation, she's reportedly filming a reality-based TV show for Showtime called M.I.L.F. Sampson's acting awards include an AVN award for Best All-Girl Sex Scene for The Masseuse (2004), an AVN award for Best Group Sex Scene (2004, 2005) and a GayVN Award for Best Non-Sexual Performance (in Michael Lucas' La Dolce Vita, 2007). It's not known what kind of car Savannah drives, but it could, in theory, eventually, at some point, be a Tesla Roadster– provided she could fit her ample… uh… superstructure into the rather small cockpit.

Steve Levy, over at Autofiends.com, has encountered the Tesla in person in Los Angeles. The lithium-ion -powered sports car was driven by none other than your sister's favorite actor, Matt Damon (who does a killer Matthew McConaughey impression). Levy spoke with Damon, who claimed the car was still a prototype. Damon said the off-the-line acceleration sucks, but the 30 – 60 acceleration is like light speed. Range? Unknown. Recharge time? Unknown? Is Damon going to buy one? Well, of course. But is it even on sale yet? That's hard to say. But if even Damon gets an unfinished prototype to tool around in, it's not sounding good for Tesla. So was the end of the Tesla Birthwatch premature? It seems like it might have been. Then again, this is a functional (mostly) prototype. You know what the take away lesson here is? Even Matt Damon, with all his money, has questionable taste in cars.

CNET reports that Tesla Motors Chairman (but not founder) Elon Musk sat down with Mike Malone for a little public chinwag. Malone is the author of "Infinite Loop: How Apple, the World's Most Insanely Great Computer Company, Went Insane." So you'd think he'd make Musk squirm. How big is the EV market? How much profit per car? How much are you guys spending? Nope. "During his interview on stage… [Musk] talked about his three long-time passions: the Internet, renewable energy, and space exploration… Clearly a pioneer in these fields, Musk has bold predictions for these markets. One is that he will put a man on Mars by 2030. Though he admitted that might not come true by then." And now, let's follow the money! "Before the IPO.. Musk said he will raise a series E round of financing to bring the company to profitability and begin production on Tesla's luxury electric sedan codenamed White Star, by 2010. The goals will be reached by selling a roughly 10 percent stake in the company in the series E round, and through a Department of Energy loan of between $100 million and $200 million, Musk said. A future IPO would raise on the order of $100 million." If he's successful, settle back and get comfortable; it's going to be a long ride.

Those are poster texmin's thoughts on AutoblogGreen's report on the latest update from our friends at Tesla Motors. (BTW Daryl, we seem to have been inadvertently omitted from your email list.) The letter reveals Tesla's revised production schedule (surprise!): a 600-car 2008 model run by April 2009, followed by the 2009 models. Reader Chris H isn't impressed. "Three cars in 9 weeks…. Three weeks to build one car? At this rate it will take over five years just to get through the Founders Series and the Signature 100." In other news, Tesla's testing a new electronics module in preparation for the yet-to-see-daylight one-speed gearbox; both will be a "running production change." The standard 3 year/36k mile warranty can now be extended to 4 years/50k miles– at a price (the 2008 Roadster Club members get free extended coverage). Tesla Roadster owners living more than 100 miles from a service center no longer have to pay $8k up front to cover service transportation. They just pay for as few (or as many) trips as needed. By this time next year, Tesla plans on having stores in L.A. (done), Menlo Park New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Miami and Seattle. And finally, if you want a 2009 Roadster, the base price has risen from $98k to $109. To which leroy replied, "Save yourself $90,000 and just buy a used Lotus Elise. 90 grand will buy a hell of a lot of gasoline."