The General Motors EV1 has a fascinating story. In 1996, it became the first modern, mass-produced electric vehicle offered to the world. With 26 lead-acid batteries and a single electric motor making 137 horsepower, it wasn’t exactly quick by modern standards. But at the time, it was highly innovative—GM was way ahead of anyone else. This was years before Tesla came on the scene.
GM famously never sold any EV1s. They were all leased and taken back by the company to be crushed. At the time, people were distraught, holding vigils over the car’s destruction, with several celebrities in attendance. The EV1’s untimely demise even spawned a film, Who Killed The Electric Car?
While most of the EV1s built were sandwiched beyond recognition, GM saved about a handful of examples—around 40, according to this nifty tracking guide built by Hemmings—and donated them to museums and universities. This doesn’t appear to be any of those, but instead a mysterious and unaccounted-for one.
So how did this one end up as an abandoned vehicle in a tow impound lot?
Some Background On The EV1
The EV1 wasn’t just important because it was the first mass-produced modern electric car. It brought with it a heap of innovations we take for granted in today’s vehicles, like keyless ignition, low-rolling resistance tires, and regenerative braking. With a drag coefficient of just 0.19, it remains one of the slipperiest production vehicles to ever be offered to the public.
The little two-door coupe made big advances in battery tech, too. In the three years of EV1 production, the car received two iterations of battery redesign, the first being nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, which doubled its range, and the second being even longer-range lithium-polymer packs. If GM had stuck with developing EVs instead of killing the program over low sales and high costs, who knows where it’d be now?
GM president Mark Reuss admitted that killing the EV1 was a mistake, stressing to InsideEVs in a recent interview what an important vehicle it was for the company:
I wasn’t around for EV1; I wasn’t in the company. But I think that might have been one example of something that we, the company, should not have done, which was canceling that; that was really quite a car.
So What’s Up With This EV1?
This brings us to the curious case of this mysterious EV1, a green-painted, early model from 1997. It’s currently up for auction through Peak Auto Auctions, an online auction site for unclaimed and abandoned vehicles. It’s listed by A-Tow Inc., a tow pound located in Atlanta, with suspiciously little info.
The car is incorrectly listed as a “GMC ELECTRIC VEHICLE,” and doesn’t come with a key. Both the Runs and the Drives sections are marked as “UNKNOWN,” though considering the condition shown in the pictures, I doubt this thing has moved under its power for a long, long time.
The photos tell a fascinating story. The car looks mostly complete, with all of its body panels and interior bits intact. But it also looks like it’s been sitting outside for an extended period of time, and the left side of the window is smashed in. There’s a garbage bag shrouding the driver’s side A-pillar, and a collection of debris, including what looks to be shattered glass, on the driver’s seat.
Wait, How The Hell Is This Being Sold?
Those familiar with the EV1’s history will probably be wondering how this one ended up in a tow pound lot. GM never officially sold the car, and the examples that still exist are all housed in museums or university collections (aside from iconic movie director Francis Ford Coppola’s EV1, which he reportedly obtained mysteriously after his personal car was taken back by GM).
As it turns out, this one was likely a forgotten piece of history at a university. A representative for the tow pound told me over the phone that this vehicle was marked as abandoned by the Clark Atlanta University Public Safety agency, which is likely how it ended up at this lot.
I called a bunch of people at the school, and most didn’t answer. Only one person, Ravena Lottie-Baskerville, director of the school’s dual-degree engineering program, had heard about it, but described the car’s existence as an “urban legend,” and didn’t have any other info to share. If I had to guess, the EV1 was likely just sitting somewhere on school grounds, untouched for long enough that officials, not knowing what it was, eventually decided to get rid of it.
Importantly, this auction is marked as a court order sale, which means the tow pound got permission from court officials to auction the car off, since no rightful owner or lien-holder has come to claim it (and pay any accrued storage or tow fees). Makes sense, since, technically, either the university or GM itself could be the only rightful owners. GM did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the car.
Who’s Going To Buy It?
Truth is, we here at The Autopian knew about this EV1 as early as yesterday afternoon. We decided as a team to keep it a secret, hoping it would go for incredibly cheap, so that we’d have an unbelievably rare, ultra-cool project car for this winter. At one point, we were even the high bidders (with a very brave bid of $900).
Of course, this EV1 didn’t stay a secret for long. As of this writing, the bidding is up to $31,500 with around three hours to go. Aside from being an ultra-rare collector car and an incredibly important part of automotive history, I can think of another reason why over 70 bids have been placed on this thing: It’s YouTube project car gold.
Resurrecting a forbidden vehicle like the EV1 is textbook-perfect fodder for a YouTube thumbnail. Jared Pink of The Questionable Garage channel confirmed to me his interest in the car.
“I’ve seen the EV1 and have been very closely considering jumping in at the end but I have not yet made a bid,” he told me. “I’ve got its cousin, the electric S10, so it would be a good garage mate, but I’m hoping one of the more obscure car channels grab this one!”
While it might be nice to see a small channel launch its way into the mainstream with the EV1, the big dogs are aware of the car as well.
“I’ve heard of it,” Freddy “Tavarish” Hernandez told me over the phone. “I’ve heard kind of sprinklings that there was one for sale.”
“I saw Rich Rebuilds post about it,” he continued. “So, I just sent him a message because he’s an EV guy. And I said, “Whatever I can do to help you get it, I’d love to be a part of that.’ I think it’d be kind of cool.”
Rich Benoit, the man behind Rich Rebuilds, feels like the most suitable candidate. His channel, which currently has over 1.6 million subscribers, centers around fixing broken EVs like Teslas, Fiskers, and more.
“I’ve been talking with Rich and Robert Dunn (Aging Wheels), but it’s more of an observation perspective. Since it’s not a big auction site, it is kind of tricky,” Pink added.
John Ross from the WatchJRGo channel is another YouTuber who expressed interest.
“I was [bidding], but I tapped out when it went over $17,000,” Ross told me. “The EV1 has always been a hero car to me, and I’ve wanted one on the channel from the start, but the auction has really taken off. Never thought it would come close to $30,000.”
When asked whether he thought other YouTubers would be bidding, Ross told me he assumed they were, and even mentioned Benoit as a potential buyer. Benoit acknowledged the auction in an email to me, but confirmed to me he wouldn’t be participating.
Registering such a car for the road will likely be very tough—the tow lot says derelict cars like this EV1 are sold as parts only. And good luck getting GM to cut you a new key, should you get it fit enough to run. Still, there are ways.
“You can just probably make it a self-built vehicle,” says Hernandez. “So kind of look at a like a kit car or whatever. It’s also a vehicle that’s for the nerds and the geeks. For most people, they’re like, ‘Okay, well, it’s like some old electric car.’ No, like, this is the old electric car.”
Will GM Try To Take It Back?
General Motors declined to comment when reached about the car. The company never intended for these EV1s to fall into private hands, so it’d make sense for it to be upset over this sale. It’s also possible that all of the relevant parties at GM have stopped caring about the EV1—remember, these donations to universities happened 25 years ago. As advanced as it was in the ’90s, the EV1 is ancient tech by now, so it’s not like the car is hiding any secrets.
The only precedent I could find concerning GM’s attitude on EV1s in the wild dates back to 2019, when a red EV1, reportedly owned by Morehouse University in Atlanta, was discovered abandoned in a parking garage. The car was eventually removed from the garage, with Hemmings hearing from some sources that it was GM itself that retrieved the vehicle.
At this point, it’s probably pretty tough for GM to obtain legal ownership of this EV1. I’m sure there are a few ways, but it probably wouldn’t be as simple as it was a quarter-century ago.
I sincerely hope that whoever obtains this EV1 from the tow pound doesn’t keep it away from the public eye. So many of these cars have either been destroyed or stuffed into basement collections, never to be seen again. Now, there’s an opportunity to give an EV1 the attention it deserves.
[Update: The EV1 ended up selling for $104,000 before fees, which is either far too much or far too little, depending on how important GM’s electric vehicle history is to you. To whoever just dropped six figures on this non-running, non-titled relic, I commend you. -BS]
Top photo: Source: A-Tow / Peak Auto Auctions and GM
Who got it??
And the Hammer falls at 104k plus fees. Crazy, but you can’t find another one.
$104,000!
Learning there are dozens on public display makes me less inclined to say this too should be in a museum. What makes it so special is:
a) it’s more or less totaled as-is so almost anything would be an improvement and
b) this is perhaps the only EV1 that can be restored/modified/improved. It’s an awesome opportunity for someone and also an enormous responsibility. Do you try to restore it to stock? Make it as fast as possible? Something else? I wouldn’t want the job of figuring out what to do with it, as you only get one shot.
restore and drive (even if just driving it around to shows) is my vote
As an intern at GM in the summer of ’96 I got to sit in a red one along with the upcoming C5 and a few other GM oddities. It was definitely next level for the late 90s. A true shame they just gave up on it.
I drove one at the Milford PG, where an old SCCA racing acquaintance (Gary Witzenburg) was running the development program. It was like a go kart except no wind in your face.
The big motivation for scrapping cars like this one was to avoid vehicles getting into public use without the proper liability waivers and then being involved in crash lawsuits that went after GM for damages.
Nostalgia, and YouTube money, are a hell of a drug.
First thing. We’re in the 21 century. Replace those ancient lead acid batteries with something a little more modern. That damage? Obviously the result of a domestic dispute and nasty divorce proceedings.
Just as well this site’s bid got passed a long way back, then. We don’t need Torch wielding his chainsaw again.
Cant forget the 13.5% premium the auction will add to the final bid price…
Knocking on the door of $50k – wow!
Wonder if this sale knocks loose any others that may be out there somewhere…?
double that. 🙂
I can’t believe it sold for that much! That’s incredible!!!
““I’ve been talking with Rich and Robert Dunn (Aging Wheels), “
Robert Dunn would be my first suggestion. As for GM… the current GM is technically a different business entity than the business entity that sold the EV1 and went bankrupt in the 2008-2009 Carapocolypse.
The “car guy” gang who were responsible for killing/crushing EV1 cars (Rick Wagoner and his team) are long gone.
This would be a great use of the Autopian go fund me page. Every member kicks in $100 and this thing becomes the Autopian house car that members can use when we visit LA. Plus, we get to see DT try and fix this thing.
Tracy? I have a mental image of the entire Autopian staff trying to restrain a chainsaw-wielding Torch.
Heck, I’d contribute $100 to the pot for the next find. I think it makes sense for the autopian to have 10-20K ready to go for when something truly unique comes up (like this). It would take too long to raise $$ after the fact, plus it would get the word out to other bidders.
I expect in a few months I’ll be surfing YouTube to see a guy in denim saying…
“This week on Jay Leno’s Garage, we are doing a restoration blog.”
“As of this writing, the bidding is up to $31,500 with around three hours to go.”
Looks like Toecutter is at it again.
I don’t have a place to keep it, or I’d be highly tempted to bid even as high as the cost currently is.
GM should have made this RWD, and offered a 3800 V6 and a V8 version ICE in this car and sold either as the next Camaro, instead of the F-Body we got. That could have got the cost of the platform down and made the Camaro into something even faster than it was.
I don’t see why this couldn’t be registered. It has a legal VIN, and most states have a bond process to obtain a title for an abandoned vehicle or what have you.
The entire powertrain of an electric S10 came from the EV1. If you have an electric S10 already, you essentially have access to whatever you would need to get this one to run. Fixing the windshield would probably be the hardest part.
Someone clever who really understands the historical import of this, needs to win and get it operating the correct way, rather than just stuffing Leaf batteries and motor into it or whatever.
By the time this thing is roadworthy (good luck with that), it will be old enough to not need a title in Maine.
I can’t even imagine the fun in resurrecting an ancient science-project EV with almost entirely one-off parts that has sat with a hole in the windshield for God knows how long. But it could certainly generate an awful lot of YouTube content.
It depends on whether the person wants to use the original components or just swap out the drivetrain
/batteries for something modern. The latter is less fun, but also probably not that big of a lift for someone who knows what they’re doing.
I’d be much more concerned about the interior and electronics than the mechanical bits. But if you aren’t going to restore it as original, why bother? You can make a frankencar a lot more easily than starting with this pile of crap. It’s only real value is as an “EV-1”. I’m going to bet replacing that windshield alone is a $10K+ prospect today.
But there are no shortage of fools with money. And even a few highly motivated collectors with really deep pockets. It would be pretty damned cool if Jay Leno bought it, and he would certainly do it justice.
I think that’s the paradox: if you do restore it to original, cool now there are 39 out there instead of 38. I guess it’s cool for the owner to own one, but what’s the point beyond that? But also if you try to “improve” it, also what’s the point? And given its current state you can’t really leave it as-is. I guess I’m saying I have no idea what you’re supposed to do with it.
Get rid of the MagneCharge system and stock inverter, and upgrade this to say a RWD motor from a modern Tesla Model 3 Performance except driving the front wheels, and a ~50 kWh pack of high-density LiIon batteries, and you will be able to make this car lose ~400 lbs.
You’ll end up with a car that maximizes the possible traction from a FWD powertrain and weighs not much more than a Miata, and gets a real-world highway range of about 350 miles per charge.
All respectable choices. It would make it much more useful but also less special. “Hey check out this one-of-a-kind EV1 I restored. It drives just like a Model 3!”
A Model 3 that is the better part of a ton less mass onboard, and FWD. It would probably drive closer to a tuned early 90s Acura Integra, if set up right, and run 11s in the 1/4 mile.
I actually didn’t know that many survived. But I am still not a fan of screwing with rare cars. Restore the thing and enjoy it for what it is and was intended to be as a piece of history.
Some around here would LS-swap a Duesenberg…
To be fair, an LS-swapped Duesenberg is probably the only thing that would get me to Pebble Beach (along with the chance for a Yawn Patrol hat).
Then you probably should continue to stay far, far away from Pebble Beach.
Realistically, given what even a barn find Duesenberg in need of a total restoration is worth, you’d be better off just making something that looks like one from scratch and putting the Camaro motor in it. It would be lots, lots cheaper.
I meant if someone else created such an abomination. Also, to be clear, while that would be the most likely thing to make me want to attend, please don’t confuse that with likely.
I’d go every year if it wasn’t on the far side of the country and insanely expensive to get in. I have been to Amelia Island, it was a damned good time but only a five-hour drive from home, and I got in for free (it’s who you know).
I’m not sure why some other Commenters are so pessimistic, you are right this should be easy to title in most states.
Depends on what state they are used to dealing with. Some are effortless, especially for old cars, some are more painful than an adult circumcision with no anesthesia when it comes to registering oddballs with questionable paperwork.
In my case, I know that Maine wouldn’t be much of a problem, they just want the money. And in another year, a Bill of Sale written on the back of a napkin and proof of insurance is all you will need. Plus money – lots of it. Florida – definitely not so easy.
Anybody know what the original MSRP or since they were only ever leased “Capital Cost” was for an EV-1? That is what Maine is going to want to know so they can ream you appropriately on excise tax every year. Plus sales tax once, of course. About $7K just for the sales tax given the $104K + fees result. Ouch. Ah – Google knows everything – about $34K MRSP. So figure ~$200/yr to register it in Maine. Could be worse.
Of course, Maine has tried a couple times to get excise tax basis changed to “original MSRP or current value, whichever is higher”. The last time they tried to do it, a couple big collectors threatened to move their collections out of state. Bob Bahre in particular. I shudder to think what his collection of Packards, Duesenbergs, and whatnot is worth.
When I first found out how Maine bases their tax on MSRP and how high the rates were I was shocked. $200 a year isn’t bad though I guess.
It would be $95 in my state for a regular registration or 25-55 for a classic vehicle.
Less than that for two years reg here in Florida. Even with an extra cost specialty plate, my Mercedes wagon is only $125 for two years. $500/yr+ in Maine, forever. Though the more expensive insurance largely makes up for the registration savings for less expensive older cars. I pay about 25% more in FL than in ME.
Anything nice SUCKS the first couple years in Maine. Coughing up almost $2K to register my new M235i (just excise tax, sales tax is paid to the dealership) was not much fun – and of course today, that car was actually only about the median price of a new car. Cash on the barrelhead, or pay 3% MORE to use a credit card too. And then only slightly less the next few years before it drops quite a bit, bottoming out at merely stiff forever at year seven.
Is it possible that GM is the high bidder? Deep pockets and a desire to ensure they are all destroyed…
It’s 45K right now. If it’s not GM, it’s another fool
I really can’t imagine today-GM caring one way or another. And they already have a couple of mint ones in their collection that they kept.
It would definitely be weird for them to be that concerned. It’s up to 49.5k. The YouTubers are probably thinking that it’s cheap enough for the views at this point, but it’s not interesting enough to get the views in my view. It’s so odd…
If you live in a state like mine with no inspections of any sort, you could probably find a way to register it as a kit car without too much difficulty.
More realistically, a cosmetic restoration could make it a nice museum piece.
Considering where we are right now with EVs, this thing should remain a paperweight at a museum.
If its been sitting that long, and outside for however long, I wouldn’t touch this with a 10ft pole just from what rodents probably have already done to it in that amount of time.
If this was 2009 then maybe it’s worth a bunch, but now? Nah.
The only reason that there is any interest in this at all is because GM destroyed nearly all of them.
I would wonder if a windshield is even possible to source. Most of the rest of it is basically one-off, too.
TBH, it deserves to be fully restored and put in a museum’s permanent collection of ‘Cars GM made perfect and then killed off’.
You can park it right between an ’88 Fiero GT and basically any 1st gen Saturn.
As former owner of several Saturns (still have one) and a Fiero that I converted to electric (I was a builder of road going EV’s from before you could buy one), I applaud this comment!
Sounds like you’ve got stories to tell. I’d love to hear about the Fiero and whatever other science projects you created
same!!!
I tried getting with David back when he wanted to make an EV out of the FJ Jeep he brought back from the west coast but no dice. The community I was a part of was called the EV discussion list (EVDL). I don’t know if it is still around, but If evalbum.com is still around, you can see a lot of the old stuff we built there. The EVDL was great. We had people like John Wayland chime in regularly.
If you have deep enough pockets, you can have a windshield made from scratch. There are several companies that can do it here and abroad. The Saab Club of Sweden had a small run of the bubble rear windscreens of the early Saab Sonett IIs and V4s made some years back. Once the form is made, it’s relatively cheap to make a batch rather than a one-off. About $5K each 20 years ago. Those are much more complex in shape than this windshield is. My second ’69 Sonett V4 came with one, with the receipts. Cost a small fortune to have it shipped from Sweden too, of course.
Yeah there are way more old cars out there than replacement windshields for them. Makes sense someone would figure out a way to reproduce them. Also makes sense that it would be painfully expensive.
Yeah anybody willing to ante $100 grand + for the car won’t blink at paying some craftsman 200 bucks an hour to build tooling to make a windshield.
I seem to recall watching some ‘BUILD A CUSTOM CAR UNDER AN UNREALISTIC TIMELINE OR WE’RE GONNA LOSE THE SHOP’ shows where this was done.
The off-the-shelf donor windshield was from a mid-aughts Impala and was heated, re-contoured, and then trimmed to fit the car on the show. It was a truly amazing process.
I can’t imagine it is cheap – but a necessary evil for some restorations. Barracudas immediately spring to mind…
Yes, if you are lucky enough that there is a donor that is “close”, that’s a cheaper option than having one made from scratch for sure. From scratch really requires there being enough demand for at least a short run of them to be made to bring the per-piece price down to something a non-Jay Leno can afford.
Like I said, 20 years ago a short run of glass was $5K each. I’d bet it’s at least double that today (and then add BS tariffs if done overseas) – but if you double the quantity you nearly halve the price because it’s the tooling and setting up for the run that is expensive – actually making a windshield costs relatively little at that point.
I wonder how a light, aerodynamically slick car like this would do with, say, a Hayabusa swap?
Given that adjusted gearing allowed for this car to set a speed record of 183 mph on a GM test track with its stock 137 horsepower, I imagine that this car would perform not that differently from a fast motorcycle with a ‘busa swap, except that it would probably get ~50 mpg in normal driving.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=699MzSBIcO4
Light aerodynamic vehicles are known to be hyper efficient with small petrol engines.
Proof of concept that current battery vehicles are deadend technology.
Current battery vehicles aren’t using the technology correctly. CUVs/SUVs/trucks are the wrong application. EV sedans and hatchbacks with small batteries, long range, and excellent aerodynamics, built to be easily serviced and repaired with basic tools outside of a dealership, should be the “budget” option for cars.
You clearly get the issues.
I came up with a package concept in the 90s that covers that and goes beyond it dealing with additional issues.
Inline aerodynamic vehicles have the advantage at higher speeds, so it’s weighted in that direction.
It’s based on the idea of spec racing formula to keep things competitive for customers, rather than manufacturers.
Subframes would have to interchange regardless of drivetrain.
Battery vehicles could compete equally.
I included separated lanes for ultralight vehicles, for safety and engineering reasons.
Highway engineers immediately supported this idea, to my shock, as lightweight lanes cost nothing compared to the weight standard for trucking.
I call it the light highway system.
Not light enough. There’s considerable transmission strain trying to power something this heavy with a motorcycle transmission. Many teams tried in Le Mons. There’s some very specific engineering issues at hand that I’m not 100% understanding, but apparently they’re roadblocks.
I can see Cleetus buying this thing and making it run 7’s.
A salvaged Tesla Model S PLAID drive system from a scrap yard, a custom rear end to convert the car to AWD, some thick, sticky slicks for tires, and a pack of LoneStar Sleepercells would do it, or at least come close.
Anyone who buys this and turns it into a meme car deserves to burn in hell forever.
What if it is kept all-electric and street legal as a meme car, and daily’d?
The world doesn’t need more Youtuber meme cars.
What happens when influencers become tomorrow’s Myspace?
Counting down the days…
True, it should be brought back to life as it was intended, but if a youtuber is buying this we all know it can only go two ways. I would love to see this thing be resurrected and maybe tastefully updated to replace obselete parts. Unfortunately something stupid will probably be done to it for, you know, the likes and subscribes.
Hard agree. We cannot reveal who bought this car, but it wasn’t a YouTuber. I’m so happy about that. Let’s be real here, almost none of the YouTube guys would give this a proper restoration. At best, we’d see this car turned into a Frankenstein monster of Tesla parts. If one of the more depraved guys got it, you’d almost certainly see it with an LS or a Cummins.
I’m hoping that’s a “we can’t reveal who bought it… Yet” and someday we will learn the awesome story of who got it.
I’d say why don’t you all crowdsource buying this, since I’d happily throw in a couple hundred bucks…but $30,000+ for a non functional relic like this is just too much. That being said, someone with more money than sense has an opportunity to do something really cool here. This is an incredibly rare and fascinating slice of automotive history that deserves to see the light of day.
This car was in fact very good and important but GM has never been able to resist the allure of shooting themselves square in the dick. I did some cursory research as well and didn’t realize there are also a lot of tinfoil hat theories surrounding this car and its demise. Regardless of what’s true and what isn’t, this is one of the most unintentionally consequential cars of the last 30 years and it would be very, very cool to see it brought back to life.
My first thought was Jared in that area. this would be up his alley, but 30k is probably too rich for him. Rich however might be the guy. though who is bidding against him is hard to say.
It’d be great for a museum to restore for display but as a driver there are much better legally legit options from the era. Out Of Spec recently uncovered a motherlode of street legal, properly titled EVs from this era RAV4 evs, S10s(which has the same drive unit), Chrysler minivan, Ford Rangers. Tesla Roadster would even be a better option.
That said I could totally see out of spec going for it, they have a dedicated repair channel and as mentioned this would be gold for them.
all that hype on media / YT / socials is also good hype for GM – “look how much people want our EVs. Oh by the way, we invented all this”. When GM is now putting in so much effort to be the big dog in mainstream EVs, they should be standing out there beaming with pride as this thing changes hands.
I’m very skeptical this would fly legally since the vehicle presumably has a VIN.
I’m also skeptical of this, considering the precedent it would set for ignoring GM’s lawful contracts if you just wait them out. Most likely they just want this whole thing to go away, since misunderstandings and biased reporting have tainted the company’s reputation rather unfairly on the EV1. I would not be surprised to see GM itself ultimately being the high bidder here.
A lot of the kit cars I’ve worked with have had state-assigned VINs, and as far as I know, you can’t get a state-assigned VIN on a non-kit car unless the factory VIN tags are missing. Even then, there’s multiple inspections involved, and I imagine GM wouldn’t be too thrilled about one of these roaming around public streets.
I’m sure this can be restored, but getting it street legal will be nigh impossible given the legal hurdles and also GM themselves.
I agree they’ll probably be the ones to buy it, or will at least work with whoever does buy it to ensure they end up with it after it’s restored.
In Virginia, you can easily apply for a title if you legitimately bought an abandoned car at an auction. I’ve done it before.
True, but this is a car that GM never intended to be in public hands – I can’t imagine they wouldn’t file some kind of objection if the owner tried to title it.
I’m not sure I see how they could? The vehicle was certified Road Worthy at the time of production, and I’m not aware of any State apparatus that checks with the OEM before issuing a title. Now if the VIN turns up as stolen, well that would already be known by now.
I believe the GM that exists now is legally a separate company from the corporation that built the EV1. The bankruptcy took care of that. So if you’re ignoring GM’s lawful contracts, then they don’t have any claim to this car.
I had a vin assigned to a 40 foot trailer with a bill of sale and inspection by highway patrol.
They stuck a little sticker on it.
Cost $75.
I think GM just doesn’t want somebody chainsawing lead-acid batteries out of the thing.