From Sports Car Market:

West Palm Beach, Florida: Midway through Friday's collector car sale, representatives of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) forced Barrett-Jackson to stop the sale of certain cars from the GM Heritage Fleet. Our sources tell us that this order from NHTSA was completely unexpected; Barrett-Jackson and GM have been extremely careful to note, in written material posted on the cars, which GM cars are sold on "salvage titles" or similar, and cannot be registered. Apparently, despite this, NHTSA is concerned that someone "might try" to register the cars for the street.

GM and Barrett-Jackson are attempting to resolve this so that the cars, which have been heavily publicized and have drawn bidders from across the nation, can be sold. Unfortunately, discussions are hampered by the fact that the relevant NHTSA offices are closed for the day, and reportedly will be closed tomorrow as well.

For updates, go to the Barrett-Jackson web site, www.barrett-jackson.com

What a load of shit.

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What a concept - preemptive justice!!

"Sir, at some time, somewhere, we believe you may speed - here is a ticket for doing 60 in a 45. Have a nice day, sir".



**note** - the above ticket was issued to a parked car.

no kidding.

These cars are not issued with VIN numbers. They are sold with nothing more than a bill of sale.

It would be tough - if not stupid - to do.

Are they selling any Corvairs? Where's Ralph Nader?

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I think that would depend on the car and how it was build.
I mean, if I build a no title street rod, buy a frame , components, engine & body and then go and get it titled, it may be less safe than the GM cars.

I don't know which cars GM is selling that would raise this type of concern.

Obviously, they have done these sales in the past. However, most of those cars were of older vintage (1950s) and the VIN requirements for those are non-existant. There are no safety standards for those cars, so NHTSA has little authority.

Modern show cars are a) complex, b) potentially incomplete and c) structurally dubious. They are literally million dollar one-offs that were hand made and only look like the finished good. They have no crash protection, airbags are not there, neither is a working audio system or climate controls.

The other thing, these one offs can be VERY heavy. Lots of metal and bondo to sculpt the shape... and the structure might not support it. In other words, one good pothole and that's that.

Concept cars are best for static display, transport to/from shows, the occasional parade or pace lap. That's it. Private usage, in controlled environments.

On the other hand, ff it has working features, it is more than likely pre-production. The only real concern there is QC...

Do they even have a VIN #?

It would be like registering a 'custom' like what Boyd Coddington made. So you could do it.

They are back on again, get your bids in

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No. That was my point from above.

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I would bet that the custom from Coddington is based on something from the 1950s or 60s.

For example, California has rather liberal rules for kit cars. No emissions, no DOT, nada. However, they only allow 500 a year.

These are not kit cars... and see my post from above, many are not road worthy.