Elon Musk. An endothermic heart

Who would have imagined that the great champion of electric cars hides a small but highly qualitative collection of gasoline-powered models in his garage? We are talking about none other than Elon Musk, the South African genius born in 1971, who has pursued the dream of progress in his life, foreseeing the importance of the internet and digital. He created his first software, the game Blastar, when he was only 12 years old, followed by Zip2, the development company for online city guides that was sold to Compaq for more than $300 million. Then came the first major breakthrough with the creation of PayPal, the payment system sold in 2002 to eBay for $1.5 billion. Then, not to put any limits on himself, Space X, the space programme designed to innovate space transport and space tourism. His crowning achievement, however, came with his company Tesla as the flagship of the electric revolution.

Tesla might be his company, but let's have a look at what he drives for pleasure:

BMW 320i
The first car on the list is a 1978 BMW 320i, which Musk bought in 1994 when he was 23 years old for $1400. The price testifies to the not-so-perfect condition of the Bavarian sedan, which he has repaired himself as shown.

Jaguar E-Type
Musk's passion for the car that Enzo Ferrari described as the 'most beautiful car ever made' began when he was 17 years old and received a book about convertible cars. The E-Type Jaguar is his personal favourite and he vowed that if he could ever afford one he would buy one. He did just that by buying a 1967 example with the first $40,000 bonus he received from Zip2.

Ford Model T
According to Elon Musk's account in an interview for CNBC, a friend gave him a Ford Model T, the first car built in series and voted Car of the Century in 1999. The implicit question here is: Will Tesla be elected Car of the Century in this century? One thing that's for sure is And you can't design the future without knowing the past.

McLaren F1
In 1999, after selling PayPal to eBay, neo-millionaire Elon Musk decided to buy one of the most iconic sports cars of all time: The McLaren F1. After driving 11,000 miles on it in just over a year, which tells you how much he must have liked it, he had a fairly serious accident while driving it on Palo Alto's Sand Hill Road that severely damaged it. In 2007, after repairing it out of his own pocket due to the fact that the F1 had no insurance, he decided to sell it. Certainly with regret, but how can he juggle it with his image as a promoter of zero-emission mobility?

Tesla Roadster
The Roadster was the first car presented by Tesla in 2007. Clearly inspired by the small British convertibles, it was made with the intention of making driving exciting even with electric propulsion. In February 2018, Elon Musk's personal car was launched into space in the direction of Mars, taking advantage of the Falcon Heavy rocket testing for a joint marketing operation. It is currently orbiting around the red planet. Who says ambition has limits?

Audi Q7
Why would Elon Musk drive an Audi Q7 in 2012? He was probably busy investigating a more comfortable access system for the rear seats. In an interview for Forbes, he said that the Ingolstadt SUV inspired the gull-wing door opening system found on the Tesla Model S.

Lotus Esprit
Believe it or not, the owner of the amphibious Lotus Esprit used by James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me is Elon Musk himself. Purchased at RM's auction in London in 2013 for around $920,000 it turned out to be a disappointment as it can't actually turn into a submarine. The South African entrepreneur's intention is to replace the engine with a Tesla electric unit and make it actually capable of diving underwater.

Tesla Cyber Truck
Back in December 2019, just days after the official unveiling, Elon Musk was seen driving Tesla's brand new Cyber Truck. Presumably a test to see if the new vehicle with revolutionary design would cause more sensation than the car he still has in his heart the McLaren F1.