Published: Jul 30, 2012

George Clooney Auctions his Tesla Roadster for Charity

One of the first Tesla Roadsters on the market to be auctioned to benefit the Satellite Sentinel Project.

Electric cars have their trade-offs. They're generally slow and rather unglamorous. But the Tesla Roadster changed that game, and quickly became a hit among the Hollywood jet set. And nobody's a bigger jet-setter than George Clooney. The Academy Award-winning actor best known for his roles in the television medical drama "ER" and the "Ocean's" film trilogy bought one of the first Teslas when it hit the market in 2008. Now he's selling it to benefit charity.

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Clooney's Roadster - in Obsidian Black Metallic with two-tone leather upholstery - bears the series number 0008 and was one of the original Signature 100 examples released by Tesla upon its market launch. Gooding & Company will auction off the roadster at Pebble Beach on August 19, with benefits going towards the Satellite Sentinel Project, a non-profit initiative that monitors the Sudanese border to warn against and prevent further violence in the war-torn country. Clooney's car is expected to raise between $100,000 and $125,000 for the cause. (Photos by Alejandro Rodriguez and Webb Farrer, courtesy of Gooding & Company.)