Easter eggs for Christmas? Yes, Elon Musk has some gifts for Tesla owners [Video]

Tesla Motors [NASDAQ: TSLA] CEO Elon Musk has always had a penchant for some inside jokes and hidden surprises inside his electric cars. What do we mean? Going way back to the Model S launch in 2012, Tesla owners got a hidden surprise revealed right in the sound system controls. It turns out that the volume on a Model S doesn't simply go to "10" — it actually goes all the way to "11" — an ode to the cult movie classic This is Spinal Tap. Since then, Musk has introduced lots of hidden surprises, also known as "Easter eggs" to Tesla owners.

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What are these Easter eggs? According to The Next Avenue*, "First, we need to know what an Easter egg really is... An Easter egg is an intentional inside joke, hidden message, or features in an interactive work such as a computer program, video game or DVD menu screen. The name is used to evoke the idea of a traditional Easter egg hunt. You might not know, but Elon Musk and the team behind Tesla love to put Easter eggs in their products." The question is: where are they hidden?

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James Bond

Remember Agent 007's Lotus Esprit, "The iconic vehicle was used by James Bond in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me. If you love that car as much as Elon Musk [he bought the actual car at an auction for about $1 Million], you can press the Tesla logo for about 10 seconds the top of the dashboard, this will open a dialog box asking you to insert code. If you put 007 there and head to the suspension menu, the image of your Tesla will change to the Lotus, and the options are in leagues, between 0 – 20,000, a nod to the Jules Verne book, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

Youtube: Author

Warp Speed

Tesla's new Model S P100D now races from 0-60MPH in 2.4 seconds, making it the quickest production car on the planet — even faster off-the-line than a $2.2 million Bugatti Veyron. That said, "If your car is equipped with Ludicrous Speed mode... you can try a little trick. In the acceleration menu, if you press and hold the ludicrous mode button for five seconds, your main screen will have an animation imitating the visual of a warp drive from Star Trek or the Hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon."

Youtube: Tesla Find

Rainbow Road

For those video game fans out there, Elon Musk has included another fun easter egg: "If you push the autopilot on four times in a row, the interface of it will change. The road on the screen will became a rainbow, reminding us a lot of that crazy level on Mario Kart."

Youtube: Voice of Geeks Network

Rainbow Charging

Tesla Motors once posted on Instagram, "We have this thing about rainbows." Indeed. So if that first rainbow-themed Easter egg wasn't enough to get you a pot of gold at the end of your rainbow, here's another: "If you press the button on the charger itself 10 times, you will get a mini light show just for you!"

Youtube: Kevin Schreiber

Meaning of Life

In a nod to one of Elon Musk's all-time favorite books, for those who have: "read the book The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, [you'll] know what 42 means. If you put these two digits in as the name of your car, [the screen] will automatically change to 'Life, Universe and Everything.'"

Youtube: KmanAuto

Tesla Team

We should all give some long-overdue kudos to the hard workers at Tesla's factory in Fremont, California. Well, it turns out that, "Touching the Tesla logo in the top of the screen, you can see a panel with some information about your vehicle, model, milage, and version of the OS. There is also an image of your car. If you long press the model variety, the car will run out of sight and a photo with some Tesla employees will show up instead."

Youtube: Timothy Bell

And, Tesla's Elon Musk surely has more surprises — a software update for sure, and maybe even a few more easter eggs — coming soon. Never one to shy away from pop culture references, even Musk's Twitter bio photo used to be a nod to Dr. Evil from the movie Austin Powers. And, he recently tweeted that more speed would be available as "it is not left-handed." Huh? Apparently, that's a reference to the movie Princess Bride. And, he's even teased that the Model 3 might have a few surprises. In a reference to the Saturday Night Live skit, he tweeted about the Model 3: "of course, it will have more cowbells."

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*Source: The Next Avenue