[Jackffr1846]

If you build a car in Mass, you go to the registry (our name for DMV) with a stack of receipts that have been stamped by the state police as having been checked out. If you're smart, you provide a spread sheet with a list of parts that you did not pay tax on. In my case, that was the donor car. The kit company is in my state, so I had to pay tax when I bought it. Now, the state collected their 5% on whatever I didn't already pay it on. Pretty painless and simple.

Now, I go in with a project 1951 Ford truck, that I bought from the original owner for $300. Notarized bill of sale. Guess what? It doesn't matter to the registry. They get their value from the Mass Department of Revenue. I would guess that the DOR has been looking into values of restored old vehicles because they placed the value at $3500. I paid 5% of $3500 to get myself a valid title....plus the $50 for the title itself.

That brings me to wonder......if the Mass DOR did a canvas of "real" 65 Cobras, what might they find. $500k? So, for someone who "sold" their Cobra to TU for say $10k and bought it back for $10k, the DOR provides a value of $500k, you get the privilage of paying $25,000 in sales tax. And guess what? You can appeal the tax (I did on the '51 with pix of the unrestored hulk and copies of all kinds of notarized documents) and they just say "no". I have not heard of this happenning yet, but I certainly would not want to be the first to have this happen to.