Love them or hate them, Tesla Cybertrucks garner a whole lot of attention, and apparently, one guy who bought his stainless steel behemoth didn’t realize that. A Cybertruck owner in Portland, Maine – one of the more liberal and chill cities in America – has been bombarded with reactions (both good and bad) to his new truck, and he’s not really a fan.
Right now, Travis Carter owns one of just two Cybertrucks in all of Maine, so he’s become a bit of a spectacle in his hometown, and not always in a good way, according to the Portland Press Herald.
Tennis players stop midswing to get a glimpse of it. Children want their pictures taken with it. It’s a trending topic online in the Portland subreddit.
On the road, the electric vehicle is the frequent recipient of middle fingers, thumbs-downs and slammed-on brakes. People gawk, roll their eyes and yell. It’s gotten spat on and been scratched.
Carter tells the paper he has never been a fan of the limelight, somehow forgetting what sort of attention a massive, angular truck would garner him. The marijuana dispensary owner says buying the Cybertruck “wasn’t an attention-seeking move” and that he’s actually quite “shy.” Carter says that it’s quite a weird experience when you pull up to a stoplight and every single person is staring at you. I’m sure it is, man.
Despite this distaste for the limelight, Carter is reportedly taking the attention in stride… for the most part.
He tries to let the negative ones roll off his back. He knows there’s no such thing as bad publicity for a business such as his Forest Avenue marijuana shop, where the truck is prominently parked most days.
Carter loves the thing but still questions whether the hot wheels are worth all the attention. If he had to go back and click “place order” again, he’s not sure he would.
“I didn’t know it was going to turn into this. I’m sometimes like, ‘What did I do?’” he said. “But sometimes it’s positive, too. I take the time to talk to people, because some people are genuinely excited to see it.”
Here’s more reaction from folks in Portland, Maine after first seeing a Cybertruck in their little city that were fairly tame, from the Portland Press Herald:
“The aliens have landed,” someone wrote about Carter’s truck on Reddit’s Portland forum, just after he returned from picking it up at a New Jersey Tesla facility.
When he first started driving it here, passersby seemed stunned.
When he first started driving it “In the first week or two, people were hanging out of their cars taking videos, even in the pouring rain,” Carter said., passersby seemed stunned.
As Carter drove up Forest Avenue through Deering Oaks Park on Thursday, a jaywalking woman stopped in the middle of an intersectionfacing oncoming traffic. Her jaw dropped. Carter came to a halt. He sighed – it was nothing new.
Things quickly turned less than cordial for Carter and his truck.
Some of the shock value has worn off. But anger has taken its place.
Carter once found a large, fresh glob of spit on the car when it was parked in downtown Portland. As he pulled up to a stop sign Wednesday, someone started yelling at him. A driver in front of him once slammed on the brakes.
What’s his most frequent reaction?
“The middle finger,” he said. “In passing, at red lights, people walking by.”
[…]
He feels like maybe the anger’s easing, but he still gets plenty of eye rolls.
The owner of Vice Cannabis put down a $100 deposit for the Cybertruck all the way back in November of 2019 and eventually forgot about it as the truck famously got delayed more and more. Then, at the beginning of this year, the Portland Press Herald says it popped back up on his radar and he decided to go through with the purchase after a little it of hesitation.
He knew the truck would be an eye-catcher in Maine. But he wanted it for its uniqueness.
“It’s so ugly it’s cute. It’s like a French bulldog,” he said. “I don’t think it’s the most attractive car in the world, but it’s different. And I like to be different.”