A lot has been said and written about the GM EV1, the first modern, purpose-built mass-production electric vehicle from a major automaker.
Thirty years ago, the teardrop-shaped subcompact coupe showed the world that a fully electric vehicle was not a distant dream, but very much a tangible reality. Sure, the driving range wasn’t great, and the car wasn’t very practical. But for all intents and purposes, the GM EV1 was a functional EV that could have evolved into something really capable, potentially giving GM a massive head start in the EV space over everyone else.
GM
But as we all know, the EV1 was short lived, surviving only three model years (1997-1999) and reaching a total production run of only 1,117 units. There are many theories about why GM killed the EV1, and the fact that it crushed most of them after reclaiming them from lessees (it was a lease-only vehicle) in late 2003 created wild conspiracy theories around it.
The truth is only about 40-50 EV1s escaped the crusher to be offered to museums or universities for engineering programs—and most of the vehicles that were spared had their powertrains disabled or removed.
Ironically, the same GM that did its best to destroy the vast majority of EV1s more than two decades ago is now offering its full assistance to the owner of an EV1 that slipped through the cracks and ended up at an Atlanta, Georgia impound lot last year. This particular vehicle, a green EV1 carrying VIN #212, sold for $118,000, becoming the first-ever EV1 to be sold legally—all the other EV1s that are now in the custody of museums and universities are still GM’s property as the automaker didn’t sell them but leased them out.
The World’s Only GM EV1 Legally in Private Hands Gets Some Unexpected Love from GM
Owner Billy Caruso, together with his father Big Mike, enthusiasts Daren and Freddie Murrer, and Jared Pink, founder of Questionable Garage—a YouTube-based workshop known for engineering-forward restorations—came together with the very ambitious goal of restoring the GM EV1 and return it to driving condition in time for the model’s 30th anniversary in November 2026.
When Questionable Garage started posting videos about the restoration, GM President Mark Reuss became interested and emotionally invested in their project, as his father, former GM President Lloyd E. Reuss, played a big part in the EV1 project.
The executive invited the team over to GM’s Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, to pick up parts necessary for the project, which the company’s design fabrication team carefully disassembled them from a donor EV1.
The EV1 restoration team’s visit included talks with some of the engineers and program managers who worked on the EV1 originally, as well as on-camera conversations with GM Heritage Center experts Adam King and Kevin Kirbitz, who showed the team the heritage vehicles that led to the EV1. The video also includes a presentation of the GM EV1 VIN #1, which was recommissioned by GM techs.
GM President Offers Full Support for the Restoration and Delivers Big Time
A second video in the series starts with a candid discussion between the team and Mark Reuss. The executive offered the team GM’s full support for the restoration, including when it comes to software, which is among the most challenging parts of the car.
“I really want to see that car. I want to see you both driving that car on the street. It would just be great,” Mark Reuss told Billy Caruso and Jared Pink. “Whatever you need, we’ll help. We will. And if we can’t, we’ll tell you we can’t. I mean, it won’t be because we don’t want to but because we might have the same problem you do,” GM’s President added.
The VIN #212 team need all the help they can get as their EV1 has a cracked windshield, a smashed driver-side quarter panel and no battery pack. Billy Caruso told The Autopian that the charging cable is cut, there’s no driveline control module inside the power inverter module, and one of the ribbon cables that plug into the power integrated module is ripped. Basically, all these parts were custom built for the EV1 so you can’t find them anywhere other than GM.
Thankfully, it looks like the team is getting everything they need from GM, which offered them one of its own EV1s—VIN #159—to cannibalize and use all the parts they need for their EV1 restoration (see video below). That is more than the team ever dared dreaming about and the least GM could do to try and shake off its EV1 serial killer reputation.
