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