My mistake. I thought your point was, "Tesla was much cheaper to start than people think, well within normal parameters for early venture rounds."
If Musk put down his money, isn't he a VC by definition?
He funded his own idea. The definition of "VC funding" isn't a concrete thing. What's important is the distinction between the way companies like Tesla and SpaceX came to where they are today when compared with companies like Instagram and Facebook.