
Elon Musk's love affair with risk has always been bigger than his love of cars. Back in 1999, the two collided.
Fresh off the sale of his first startup, Zip2, Musk pocketed an estimated $20 million from the deal with Compaq. He didn't rush toward a mansion or vacation home. Instead, he settled into an 1,800-square-foot condo in Palo Alto, California, and dropped $1 million on a McLaren F1 sports car.