No, I never thought I would publish a post featuring a Tesla, after all, they are the opposite of what we would call “classic machine”, but I believe this catch of the day has some relevance to the dangerous times we are living in.
First of all, it is impossible to talk about Tesla without mentioning the guy who produces them, Elon Musk.
Mr. Musk has a massive ego. He always ensured his image as a successful industrialist was strongly linked to all his brands. He continually tries to project an aura of a super-cool, daring genius who could smoke marijuana in front of cameras without caring what people might think, and, to some extent, it worked.
Steve Jobs did something similar, and he helped sell many Apple products. So it is fair to say that Musk also helped sell a lot of Teslas.
It’s interesting how we, mere mortals, are always looking for heroes to guide our actions. Personally, I never liked the guy or his cars, and I will not list my reasons here; this is not the purpose of this post. However, at times, I had to acknowledge his boldness. Watching the SpaceX reusable rocket booster land vertically, all by itself, is beyond cool. Also, when he put his personal Tesla Roadster into space in 2018, it was “sci-fi”- level cool.
As a brand, Tesla was a success. It was, in one way or another, the resurgence of the American Automobile. Finally, a US automaker was leading global sales, even if its EV market share is pretty small. Tesla was also the chosen stock for “investors” to manipulate, inflating its real value many times over. So very often I read in the news: “Tesla is now more valuable than Ford”, yes, it is true only if you are counting imaginary money.
Tesla has become the go-to car for trendy people who want to save the world by driving a zero-emissions vehicle. Supporting my point, the brand has been the best-selling in California for years in a row.
Cybertruck
On November 21, 2019, Mr. Musk and a select group of Tesla staff hosted an event to unveil the most anticipated Tesla yet, the Cybertruck.
The event was a bit embarrassing. In an attempt to demonstrate the vehicle’s supposedly “indestructible” armor glass, Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen threw a metal ball at the driver’s side window, shattering it completely. Following the first failure, Musk asked him to try again on the rear window. The same thing happened, and the second window shattered as well, prompting Musk to swear on stage and joke, “Room for improvement.” This little hiccup didn’t prevent 200.000 orders from being placed that day.
Elon Musk announced that Cybertruck would launch in late 2021 with a starting price of US$39,900. The release date was later delayed to 2022, and subsequently to late 2023, with an updated base price of US$60,990.
The pick-up truck market in North America is highly profitable but also has the most traditional customers. The Big Three, Ford, GM, and Chrysler, have been using the same recipe for building trucks for decades, and it seems to be what customers like. And yet, Mr. Musk decided to create a very controversial vehicle to compete in that arena.
The Cybertruck has been a love-or-hate vehicle since day one. It was not designed for the usual pickup truck buyer. It looks like a car that came out of a “B” sci-fi movie. It is fast, no doubt about it; there are quite a few videos on the internet showing it shaming all sorts of sports cars in drag races.
The most common complaints about Cybertruck are the limited off-road capability and weird bed design that make hauling stuff a bit complicated.
Also, the tie rods, along with control arms and spindles, are a constant headache during “somewhat minor” off-roading, suggesting they are a limiting factor in the truck’s ruggedness.
The Cybertruck’s panels are made of stainless steel, which enhances the vehicle’s futuristic look. It is also very strong and doesn’t rust easily.
While dent-resistant and rigid (it said it can stop a 9mm bullet), the panels are prone to surface staining and rust spots. Some owners have opted to wrap the truck in coloured vinyl, making it easy to keep it “clean.”
The Cybertruck is an extremely polarized vehicle. Most of the opinions you hear about it are either from passionate fans, exaggerating its qualities or from passionate haters, exaggerating its flaws. Since the vehicle is not of interest to me, I didn’t research it much.
The evil genius
Elon Musk was open about using his image as a marketing tool for his products, and it worked well until the thin veneer of cool-guy appeal began to crack.
Mr. Musk became one of the most prominent supporters of Donald Trump’s quest for reelection in 2024. With an almost infinite supply of money, he bought Twitter for $44 billion on October 27, 2022, with the sole intention of making it a political platform for the incoming elections.
Trump was banned from Twitter in 2021 for widespread misinformation and for violating Twitter’s “Glorification of Violence” policy. When Muks bought the platform, he changed its name to “X” and loosened Twitter’s regulations on hate speech and misinformation. As a result, “X” became a safe haven for haters and white supremacists.
Musk didn’t bother to share his controversial political views with the world. He public supported the German far-right political party, Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has faced accusations of using neo-Nazi rhetoric and has sections officially classified as right-wing extremist by German authorities.
On January 20, 2025, while speaking at a rally celebrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, Elon Musk, clearly saluted the crowd twice, making the infamous nazi saluting.
But the worst was yet to come. Elon Musk was nominated by Trump as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a non-governmental initiative focused on slashing federal spending and reducing bureaucracy.
During the first couple of months of the Trump administration, Mr. Musk, accompanied by a small team of agents, often including personnel from his own companies, stormed federal agencies both physically and digitally, scrutinizing budgets, stealing files, and dismissing thousands of federal workers.
By mid-2025, DOGE, under Elon Musk’s leadership, had been associated with the firing or displacement of 260,000 to 280,000 federal employees and contractors across 27 agencies.
Those firings, called “slash and burn,” were carried out without proper study or consideration. In some cases, many workers had to be called back to prevent the agency from shutting down. More than just ruining lives, a lot of sensitive information about the government and its citizens ended up in the hands of a bunch of far-right clowns. What they are doing with it we don’t yet.
Conveniently, Mr. Musk focused on federal agencies investigating his companies for questionable business practices.
In February 2025, Musk attended the Conservative Political Action Conference while brandishing a chainsaw given to him by Argentine President Javier Milei. The chainsaw was supposed to symbolize the cuts on the government’s extravagant expenditure. But, for the sane Americans, it was a symbol of a nazi lunatic beheading federal workers.
The chaotic backlash
If you don’t like a corrupt politician, the only way to hurt him/her is to vote for someone else in the next election. That is the beauty of democracy. But how can you reach a corrupt billionaire who was invited into the administration?
Some extremists found a way. Since Mr. Musk’s image is so deeply embedded in every Tesla, vandalizing one might feel as satisfying as breaking his nose.
Suddenly, a surge of cowardly vandalism targeting Tesla cars and dealerships spread around the world.
From minor rude acts towards owners, like “flipping the bird,” to serious actions like setting cars on fire, everything seemed fair game.
Fearing not only the loss of property but also their own lives, Tesla owners started keeping their cars in the garage, but for those who couldn’t afford it, they found a rather silly approach: disguising their vehicle.
Finally, this long story comes to the picture that inspired me to write this episode of Catch of the Day. A couple of weeks ago, I spotted this Cybertruck, wrapped in black vinyl, and rebadged as a Ford pickup.
I couldn’t resist taking this picture. For the first time, I saw a rebadged Tesla, just like the many others I had seen and laughed at online. Oddly enough, it looks better than the original one.
Conclusion
Following some disagreement with Trump, Elon Musk left DOGE on May 30, 2025, appeasing the vandals’ ire.
But the consequences of Mr. Musk’s involvement with the Trump administration aren’t going to fade away. Tesla experienced a significant decline in sales in 2025 and early 2026, prompting the company to cut production of the Model S and Model X.
How does this cut feel, Mr. Musk?
The Classic Machines 