The Tesla Model S did not just launch as a car in 2012; it launched as an argument. Before it, electric cars were compliance vehicles: slow, cramped, and built to satisfy regulators rather than excite drivers. The Model S flipped that script with a 300-plus-mile range vehicle, featuring a 17-inch touchscreen that made every competitor’s interior look a decade old, and straight-line speed that could embarrass gas-powered sedans twice its price. It went on to sell in the hundreds of thousands worldwide, anchoring Tesla’s rise into a company worth more than the rest of the legacy auto industry combined. Plus, they forced every major manufacturer, from Porsche to Mercedes, into an EV arms race they did not choose but could not ignore.
A few years ago, the Model S Plaid pushed that legacy further. It added a third motor, over 1,000 horsepower, and a sub-2-second 0-60 (0-100km/h) time that still humbles cars costing three times as much. And now, that era is closing. During its Q4 2025 earnings call, Tesla execs confirmed that the Model S and Model X will wind down production, with Elon Musk calling it an “honorable discharge” for the cars that built the brand, as the Fremont factory converts its lines to build Optimus humanoid robots at a target of up to a million units a year. It is a strange, fitting moment for the flagship sedan’s story to enter a new chapter, one in which a piece of that history just rolled into a Los Angeles detailing bay.
The Man Who Designed It Brought Us #001
Franz von Holzhausen has been Tesla’s Chief Designer since 2008, and he is the person most responsible for how the Model S actually looks, from its proportions to the details that make it read as a genuine luxury sedan rather than a science project. So when his personal Model S Plaid Signature Edition, VIN #001 of only 250 built, showed up for a full protection package, it carried a weight that a typical customer car does not. This is the first unit off the line, owned by the man who drew the car, and he entrusted it to Unplugged Performance’s partners at Bulletproof Auto Spa, a prestige detailing & car paint protection facility operated right next to SpaceX, in Hawthorne, California.
The Signature Edition is not something you can order today. Tesla built exactly 250 units to mark the start of Plaid production, each finished in Garnet Red paint with a carbon fiber sport package covering the front nose, rear diffuser, and spoiler. A set of 22-inch forged wheels accentuates the aggressive body lines, whilst gold-accented badging inside and out, right down to a gold lattice Plaid emblem embroidered into the headrests, adds the perfect finishing touches for this vehicle. Von Holzhausen’s car carries the additional distinction of being the very first one built, which, on a vehicle already this limited, adds a layer most collectors will never touch.
XPEL Ultimate Plus: Protecting a Paint Job That Cannot Be Reordered
Garnet Red is not a color Tesla will ever produce again on this platform, which made the decision on paint protection film straightforward. The team applied a full-vehicle wrap of XPEL Ultimate Plus, an 8-mil self-healing thermoplastic urethane film backed by a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty. It is engineered to absorb rock chips, road debris, and light abrasion from daily driving, and minor scuffs disappear on their own with heat rather than leaving a permanent mark. The film went on every painted panel, hood, fenders, doors, roof, and rear quarters, so the entire body sits under a layer that is functionally invisible but does the actual work of shielding a finish that cannot be touched up with a factory can.
XPEL Prime XR Plus: Keeping the Cabin Livable in Southern California
Window film came next in the form of XPEL Prime XR Plus, a nano-ceramic tint that blocks up to 98% of infrared heat and over 99% of UV radiation. On a car with a large panoramic glass roof, that heat rejection is not a cosmetic upgrade, it is the difference between a cabin that is bearable after sitting in a parking lot and one that is not. Because the film is non-metallic, it does not interfere with the Model S’s sensors, connectivity, or the massive center display, and the multi-layer ceramic construction holds its clarity and color stability far longer than dyed film ever could.
Ceramic Coating as the Finishing Layer
The last step was a professional-grade ceramic coating applied directly over the PPF. Ceramic bonds to the film at a molecular level, adding hydrophobic properties that cause water, brake dust, and road grime to sheet off the surface instead of bonding to it. Applied correctly over a properly protected finish, it deepens gloss, adds real chemical and UV resistance, and cuts down significantly on how often the car needs a full detail to hold its depth. On a Garnet Red paint job this rare, that combination of protection and presentation is the entire point.
Two Shops, One Bloodline
What makes this project notable beyond the car itself is who did the work. Unplugged Performance has spent years building its reputation as the world’s leading shop for Tesla-specific performance upgrades, from suspension and big-brake kits to carbon-fiber aero developed on its own test vehicles. Bulletproof Auto Spa, a detailing arm of Bulletproof Automotive, the shop that actually incubated Unplugged Performance in the first place, operates out of that same Los Angeles facility. Being an exclusive XPEL-certified installer, handling paint protection film, ceramic coating, color-change wraps, and premium window tint for everything from Ferraris and Lamborghinis to Rivians and Lucids, this is the perfect place to take a vehicle as unique as this to get detailed. The two brands share a lineage, a location, and a customer base that expects nothing less than the top of XPEL’s product line. Having the Model S’s own designer choose that facility for his personal #001 is about as strong an endorsement as either shop could ask for.
This is not a flashy build with aftermarket wheels and a wrap chasing attention. It is a restrained, correct approach to protecting a car that genuinely cannot be replaced, done by the shop with the closest possible relationship to the platform itself. As the Model S heads toward the end of its production run and Tesla’s Fremont plant pivots to building Optimus robots rather than sedans, cars like #001 only become more significant. Unplugged Performance and Bulletproof Auto Spa treated it that way, and the result is a Signature Edition that is armored against everyday wear without losing an ounce of what made the original design worth protecting in the first place. If you own a Tesla or anything else worth this level of attention, this is exactly the standard to expect from a shop that works at this level.
Please grab a detailed look at this detailing build by Unplugged Performance and Bulletproof Auto Spa in the media gallery right below.
