Patience is supposed to pay. That’s the deal you make every time you leave money alone, whether it sits in a 401(k), a brokerage account, or a savings bond you forgot about.
But patience only pays when your money is working while you wait. Park cash in the wrong spot, and time quietly flips from your best friend into your most expensive habit.
Most of us learn this with small sums, like a checking account earning nothing or a refundable deposit you meant to reclaim and never did.
Now picture the same mistake with $250,000, held for nearly a decade, by a company that kept telling you your order was almost ready.
That’s where some of Elon Musk’s most loyal fans have been sitting. They handed over serious money years ago, watched delivery dates come and go, and stayed in line anyway because the product sounded like nothing else on Earth.
This week, the wait finally produced something you can see. On Thursday, Oct. 15, Tesla (TSLA) unveiled its long-delayed second-generation Roadster at a SpaceX test site in McGregor, Texas, complete with rocket-style thrusters that let the car briefly fly.
The flying Roadster finally leaves the ground
The demo looked like a stunt reel. The Roadster drove up a curled ramp until it hung upside down, launched off the end, and rolled 180 degrees in midair before landing on its wheels, reported CBS News.
“Flying cars are real,” Musk said at the event, adding that the car’s “success is not guaranteed” but “it will probably work,” according to CBS News.
The hardware comes straight from Musk’s rocket company. The car uses 10 thrusters fed by 600 liters of compressed air to lift and spin itself, Tesla engineering vice president Lars Moravy said at the event, reported TechCrunch.
Tesla is offering three versions: a road-ready Performance model, a limited Thrust model with rear thrusters and a 0-to-60 time under one second, and an invite-only Rocket model with the full flight system, according to Yahoo Finance.
What Tesla did not offer is a price. Reserving the Performance version requires a refundable $5,000 card payment followed by a $45,000 wire within 10 days, reported CNBC.
What Musk promised sports car buyers in 2017
When I went back to Tesla’s original pitch, the gap between promise and product jumped out. The 2017 Roadster was billed as a $200,000 car with 620 miles of range, a 1.9-second sprint to 60 mph, and deliveries in 2020, reported Fortune.
Here’s how the timeline actually played out:
- November 2017: Tesla unveils the next-generation Roadster and opens reservations at $50,000, with $250,000 Founders Series spots, Fortune noted.
- June 2018: Musk tweets that a SpaceX option package will add about 10 small rocket thrusters, according to CNBC.
- September 2026: Musk sets an Oct. 1 unveiling, nearly a decade after the first prototype, reported Reuters.
- Oct. 15, 2026: Tesla shows the car after a weather delay and targets production in 2028, according to CBS News.
The new car’s range of more than 300 miles is less than half of the 2017 promise, reported GuruFocus. It’s another entry in a long list of Tesla promises made and broken, alongside the $40,000 Cybertruck.
I ran the deposit math against Tesla stock
Some buyers never left the line. Online-gaming executive Todd Haushalter put down $250,000 in 2017 and told the Wall Street Journal, “I expect it to be the most impressive thing ever on wheels by a reasonably large factor.”
Others bailed and now regret it. Car writer Jerry Heasley got his $50,000 deposit refunded, then admitted, “I want it really bad now,” according to the Journal.
Here’s what nobody at the event mentioned. A deposit is an interest-free loan to the company holding it.
Related: Elon Musk sends strong message to SpaceX and Tesla investors
So I ran the numbers. Tesla stock traded near $20.59 on a split-adjusted basis in November 2017, according to Digrin price history, and it opened the Oct. 16 session in the low $360s.
That’s roughly a 17.5x gain. A $50,000 Roadster deposit invested in Tesla shares instead would be worth about $875,000 today, and a $250,000 Founders Series deposit would be near $4.4 million.
The buyers who waited got a flying prototype. The ones who bought the stock could have bought the car, the garage, and the house around it.
Why Wall Street shrugs at SpaceX thrusters
Analysts loved the show and ignored the sales math. “The Roadster will not move the volume or revenue needle, with production likely limited, and investors should not model it as a growth driver,” Dan Ives of Yorkville Ives wrote in a research note, reported CBS News.
Ives instead framed the car as proof that Tesla and SpaceX (SPCX) can work as one engineering platform. That feeds the long-running talk that Musk could fold SpaceX and Tesla together.
More Tesla:
- Michael Burry’s latest bet raises uncomfortable questions for Tesla
- Tesla target lowered by analysts worried about runaway $25 billion spending
- The Robotaxi payday Tesla promised owners isn’t coming
Deepwater Asset Management’s Gene Munster called the car an engineering flex with no commercial value beyond embarrassing legacy automakers, reported GuruFocus.
Former Tesla president Jon McNeill sees a richer path. “I think Ferrari proves the point that you can make a lot of money in the automotive business at low volumes, at a high price point,” he told the Journal, a nod to Ferrari (RACE).
Traders were less patient. Tesla shares climbed in premarket trading on Friday, Oct. 16, but the stock was down 0.55% at $360.43 by late morning, according to Yahoo Finance.
Your savings lesson from a 9-year wait
The real test lands Oct. 21, when Tesla reports third-quarter results and investors refocus on margins, robotaxis, and spending. Not every analyst thinks a SpaceX merger will save Tesla investors.
For you, the Roadster saga offers a cleaner takeaway. Before you hand anyone a deposit, whether it’s a builder, a dealership, or a preorder page, ask two questions: When do I get it back, and what could this money earn while I wait?
Musk sold his fans a car that flies. Your money should be doing at least that much.
Related: Tesla’s plans for Robotaxi dominance hit major snag in Austin
