GoKawiilA battered GM EV1 that turned up at a Georgia impound lot and sold at auction for more than $100,000 has sparked a restoration project that brought together a YouTube channel, a private collector, and ultimately General Motors itself. GM announced the news on March 11, 2026.
The car was VIN 212, one of the rarest surviving examples of the EV1, the first modern purpose-built electric vehicle from a major automaker. GM leased roughly 1,000 of them starting in late 1996, later recalled them, and left only a handful of non-drivable examples in museums and universities. VIN 212 slipped through the cracks.
Private enthusiast Billy Caruso purchased the car at auction, then teamed up with his father Big Mike, fellow enthusiasts Daren and Freddie Murrer, and Jared Pink, founder of Questionable Garage, a YouTube channel known for deep, engineering-forward restorations. The group had previously collaborated on a Chevrolet S-10 electric, a vehicle that shares drivetrain technology with the EV1. Together they launched Project V212 with a clear, ambitious goal: return VIN 212 to driving condition and public visibility by November 2026, the 30th anniversary of the EV1’s introduction.
(Image: GM)
When the team began publishing restoration videos, GM President Mark Reuss was watching. GM invited the Questionable Garage crew to its Global Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, where parts carefully pulled from a donor EV1 by GM’s design fabrication team were handed over. The visit included on-camera conversations with GM Heritage Center experts Adam King and Kevin Kirbitz, who walked the team through heritage vehicles that led to the EV1, including the Electrovair II, the Sunraycer solar race car, and the Impact concept.
GM technicians also showed off their own EV1 project, a recommissioning of a very special example, EV1 No. 1. The visit also featured a battery evolution walkthrough with Kurt Kelty and Andy Oury, two engineers helping to define GM’s EV future, and a cameo from Reuss, who escorted the crew across campus to collect their parts.
GM confirmed it is formally supporting the restoration as part of its recognition of the EV1’s 30th anniversary. The EV1 introduced technologies that remain foundational to modern EVs: heat pumps for climate and battery thermal management, blended regenerative and friction braking, fully by-wire controls, low-rolling-resistance tires, and an aluminum space frame chassis. As GM’s team put it: “EV1 set in motion everything we’re doing in electric right now.”
Today GM spans EVs across Chevrolet, GMC, and Cadillac, and is developing next-generation battery chemistries, expanding public charging infrastructure, and advancing V2H and V2G technologies that turn EVs into energy assets for homes and communities. The Questionable Garage team is continuing to document every step of Project V212 on YouTube, with more visits to GM facilities planned.
EVinfo.net’s Take: The Car That Started It All
Before electric vehicles became a serious industry, General Motors built the EV1. It was 1996, and no major automaker had ever done anything quite like it: a purpose-built, ground-up electric vehicle, not a conversion, not a concept, but a production car designed from the first bolt to run on electricity.
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