Recent market fluctuations not withstanding, I've always been a fan of the free market. Too bad GM never saw it the same way: Their EV1, the first widely distributed electric vehicle, has long been a highly coveted item among collectors.

Sadly, market restrictions limited the groundbreaking auto to being a lease-only model. In 2008 dollars, a leased EV1 would cost around $80,000—well below the intro cost of new, highly touted Chevy Volt. But unlike the game-changing Volt, GM's aging EV1 requires no gasoline. What price would you put on that difference? $20,000? $40,000?

Try $400,000. Implausible though it may seem, a 1998 EV1 sold just yesterday on the Western Canadian purchase site for $465,000. Not too shabby for a tiny, limited range vehicle that the GM brass claimed "nobody wanted."