GM EV1 Sells for $104K Despite Not Running
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- GM EV1 and the original Tesla Roadster are commonly called the starting points of the modern EV era, but the article notes they were preceded by low-volume oddities including the Consulier GTP (built by Mosler Automotive and US Electricar), the AC Propulsion tzero roadster, and the Robert Q. Riley–designed Trimuter and Tri-Magnum foam-bodied EVs.
- General Motors crushed most EV1s when their original leases ended, making surviving examples extremely rare; a donated EV1 (VIN #278) was rediscovered abandoned in a university garage, impounded, and sold at a court-ordered auction for $104,000 despite not running, having no parts base, and having zero manufacturer support.
- The $104,000 sale reportedly broke GM's ultra-restrictive ownership contracts, creating a legal precedent that allows the car to be auctioned to the public for the first time.
- The author compares the restoration challenge to finding a one-off Ferrari IndyCar project in a barn while Ferrari actively fights your efforts to restore it.
- Top commenter Pete Gruber pushes back on the EV1 pick, noting 1,800 Tesla Roadsters remain and are no longer discarded even when totaled, and arguing the Roadster was more pivotal to keeping the EV revolution alive than the EV1 was.
- The Toyota Mirai and first-generation Honda Insight hybrid are also floated as alternative candidates for the first classic of the electric era.
Why it matters: A non-running GM EV1 with no parts base or manufacturer backing sold for $104,000 at a court-ordered auction — a concrete data point showing early EVs are crossing from curiosity into collector-asset territory. The sale reportedly broke GM's ultra-restrictive ownership contracts, potentially giving collectors their first legal path to own a car GM deliberately tried to destroy.
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