Nick Hexum, 50, the Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, and guitar player with the band 311, on his family’s Tesla Model 3s, as told to A.J. Baime.
Growing up, my dad informed me a lot about rock ’n’ roll culture. My first love of music was his 45 collection—Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis. Cars were always part of the imagery. You know: “Fun, fun, fun, ‘til her daddy takes the T-Bird away.” We would go on car trips in the summer and it got to be that I could identify the difference between a 1955, a 1956 or a 1957 Chevy, just from one look.
Later, when I had some success with my band, I saw this 1955 T-Bird parked across the street from my manager’s office, and it had a for sale sign. I bought that car for my dad and surprised him on his 60th birthday. It was this tearful moment where I got to show my gratitude for my dad’s love and support, but also for instilling a love of cars and rock ’n’ roll in me.
Over the years, I have owned just about every souped-up sports sedan from all the German car makers. A Mercedes E55 AMG, a BMW M5, an Audi S6. It wasn’t about looking cool in an expensive car. I wanted killer performance.
The bass player in my band, P-Nut, was a super-early adopter of Tesla, and he actually bought serial number 311 of the Tesla Roadster, the brand’s first model. He had been telling me to get one. I decided to wait until the Model 3 came out because it was the size I wanted and it was cheaper than some of the cars I had been driving.
When I got my Model 3 performance version [Tesla’s highest performance edition of this model] two years ago, I thought it was the best-performing car I had driven, and to have a $60,000 car that smoked some of the more expensive cars I had owned was a win-win. Because it is fully electric, there is this smooth acceleration—the car has no gears, it just goes—that feels like you’re launching into hyperspace. You’re going from zero to 60 mph in about 3.5 seconds. At the same time, it is completely quiet.
There are certain things in a car that, once you have them, you would rather not do without. I had come to love all-wheel drive cars after owning my Audi S6, because you could accelerate into a corner and the car would be really sure-footed. I had come to love adaptive cruise control because in L.A. freeway driving, there is so much starting and stopping. Adaptive cruise control does that for you. The Tesla had all of this technology. And the Autopilot is huge; it steers for you so all you have to do is keep your hands on the wheel.
Now, my wife has a Model 3, too. We put in a huge solar array and two Tesla Powerwalls, so the sun powers not just our cars, but our house, too. When I was a kid and I first fell in love with cars, I never imagined that I would drive a car powered by the sun.
Ultimately, the thing that made me an Elon Musk fanboy [Musk is the co-founder and CEO of Tesla] is this: Most people are not going to go out of their way to save the environment. He created a car with a better driving experience than what was out there, from my point of view, for a cheaper price. And you get to save the environment to boot.
Nick Hexum bought this 1955 Ford Thunderbird for his father, Terry Hexum. Both are in the car in the older Mr. Hexum’s driveway in Omaha, Nebraska, circa 2014. Notice the license plate: ‘From Son.’
Photo: Deanna Hexum
Copyright ©2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
