Barrett-Jackson GM Heritage Car Auction Halted By NHTSA [Barrett Jackson]

Investigators from NHTSA stopped the GM Heritage Center from auctioning off near-classics, fearing some buyers would try to register cars for the street.

The idea behind the auction was to deliver up some cash for GM by auctioning some near-classic cars like the 1-millionth Saturn. Among these vehicles were a few concept cars and other vehicles that had to be sold through salvage titles so no one would try to drive them adhering the street. This is a fairly usual practice and, according to Barrett-Jackson and GM, the companies were up front about this.

So why did G-Men stop the auction? The NHTSA were concerned people would examine to register these vehicles for the street, though haven’t given any indication why they think this. The fit NHTSA offices are closed for Easter, so for now we’ll have to stay and mark if this is a example of overreaction or if the feds were onto something. It seems GM can’t even sell cars to people lining up to buy them at auction. [Edmunds: Straightline