I can't stand Ma. As my car nears completion I now facing the real possibility I may

[JoeT]

Originally Posted by ng8264723

The thing that doesn't make any sense is I could have bought a used Cobra and brought it here to ma and not had any difficulties.
Chris

Actually not true. That's what I did and they changed my Florida 1965 ford title to a Mass 2005 title, and as such am unable to pass the MAC center with a crate engine (with an '84 block)

It pisses me off everytime I walk into the garage and see the car on the lift that I am unable to legally drive. . .It would piss me off even more if it was a $90k + car that i couldn't drive.

I'm actually at the point now that if SEMA doesn't pass this year, I'll buy a beater '60s car for the title (motor/trans) and drop it in 'till it blows.

[Excaliber]

So title it in another state, in someone elses name even, and then bring your "used" Cobra back to Mass???

Actually, that is similiar to what some of folks did before replicas were legal on Oahu. Replicas WERE legal to register on the other islands and that made it much easier to "slip under the radar" when "coming back" to transfer ownership to an Oahu address. That method didn't always work, some of those DMV clerks are pretty sharp, but often it did. The worst thing that would happen was you would be denied the transfer and would then have to go to "plan B". Some folks actually flew to the mainland for the sole purpose of securing registration, plates, etc. and then returning home with said documents. But then, we drove around at night mostly, mostly we did, and never in large groups, pretty much it was all stealth mode. The cops knew, they looked the other way for the most part, not ONE of us EVER got "busted" for bad registration on the road. The DMV was what would trip you up! It was kind of cool, we had a hardcore secret club thing going on.

[ng8264723]

Basically, every idea thus far has been shot down except starting a corpoartion somewhere. It seems the gods are against me

[Ron61]

Ng8264723,

I hate to see all the problems that you are having, but unless you actually own land in another state and live there part of the year, based on what happened around here, it would just not be worth the risk to me to do something like registering it in another state even under a friends name who does live there. I don't know if your state actively pursues this like out DMV here does, but that almost cost one person his car here and he never did get it registered and finally had to sell it out of state. And our DMV and other people in the State Govt. do monitor these sites looking fort just this kind of thing. At Least here we have the SB-100 exemption, plus I believe the number of cars to be registered is dropping yearly.

Ron

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by ng8264723

Basically, every idea thus far has been shot down except starting a corpoartion somewhere. It seems the gods are against me

When I was at the Barrett Jackson auction in January this place had a postcard on the lunch tables... Create a Montana LLC and register your car/boat/plane there. As is true most of the time, things that are too good to be true probably are, but I'll post it here as a public service

http://www.mtvehicles.com/

[kgs365]

hmm


http://www.mass.gov/legis/bills/hous...df/ht04557.pdf

[patrickt]

You can track it here: http://www.mass.gov/legis/186history/h04557.htm But hasn't the SEMA bill made it to the Gov. before only to have him refuse to sign it? Or am I thinking of a different state.

[Cashburn]

It seems all you options if they are unsuccessful result in you selling the car, so why would you sell the car without trying any of them. A few of your options allow you to acquire a legal 1965 title and that alone makes the car easier to sell.

Further discussion just opens you and others up for scrutiny...

[patrickt]

If you do decide to go the out-of-state-maybe-corporation route, have someone hold your hand while doing it. I did see some potential nuisance/roadblocks in the Mass. statutory scheme (fines, a 30-day "use" clause, repetitive violation clause, etc.) but I did not see a civil forfeiture in there. That doesn't mean there isn't one tucked in there someplace though. I didn't look all that hard. Have whoever it is holding your hand write you up a memo on what the worst case scenario would be under the Mass. statutes and then you can balance the severity and likelihood of that happening against the "I have to sell my car" route. That will dictate the path you choose to take.

[mtml427]

Geez, you sure are going through a lot of grief. Do you have a friend or relative in another state that you could gift it to and trust them to gift it back to you?
Better yet, what about showing your residency with that same relative (perhaps even a rental agreement for some low amount of rent i.e. 1 dollar/mo.). It seems that you would be justified in having a car at the property you are renting and not have to surrender primary residency in your home state.

[RodKnock]

Circumventing the law is not the way you should go. Always having to look over your shoulder is not exactly good for the conscious.

IMHO, I would try to register as is, if that's possible, or extricate the engine and tranny for an engine/tranny that will pass, or sell it as a last resort. All the other options (e.g., setting up a corporation/LLC in another State) is: a) expensive and b) is borderline legal/illegal.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

... b) is borderline legal/illegal.

The law is but a seamless web, with each square its own delightful shade of gray....

[RedBarchetta]

Originally Posted by patrickt

The law is but a seamless web, with each square its own delightful shade of gray....

Playing with the law can sometimes be a little like playing with Harry Callahan.

"I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?"

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by RodKnock

... or extricate the engine and tranny for an engine/tranny that will pass,

Engine switching is not without peril. In fact, some might say that the ol' engine switcheroo trick has a greater risk that that of a carefully titled out-of-state solution. See: http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resour.../engswitch.pdf

[RodKnock]

It's one thing to throw your plastic bottle into the trash instead of the recycle bin, but quite another to register your $90,000 Kirkham within the "prism of grey."

Having said that, there's a city out here that has proposed analyzing people's trash each week to make sure its citizens are correctly recycling every item that they should.

[RodKnock]

No trick. Sell the 482 and just buy a properly dated sideoiler. Easy, see?

Although I'm not a huge fan of cast iron blocks and heads on the front end of my Cobra, if I lived in MA and was faced with this decision, then I'd learn to live with it.

[Don]

Have an understanding of your predicament as when I attempted to register a pre-owned Cobra from out of state, that was legally registered, did not have the correct paperwork on the engine etc. While it was a tedious experience, in the end , everything was handled exactly according to the law and obtained the registration w/o any future concerns.

Not knowing the MA regulation, if the option selected is another engine, CT follows the Federal regulations in that only pre-1966 ( 1965 and earlier ) engines and factory heads did not have any Emission regulations and hardware. The Bill of Sale had to be very specific as to the engine codes, year etc and the sellers info, if a business , on their letterhead is a plus. I know of one individual that had the actual VIN tag from the vehicle the engine was obtained from.

[ZOERA-SC7XX]

Just one legal option to consider. If you shop for an dated engine & trans combo that comes with paperwork, that will satisfy all your state laws. Much of the enjoyment of these cars come from overcoming obstacles. Wish you luck.

[Excaliber]

Titling it in someone else's name, in another state. is not circumventing the law, it's playing by the rules. I wouldn't have a problem with it ethically or morally. Mass has their laws, good or bad, they are what they are, for now. So, until that changes the solution seems rather simple. A "used car" back to Mass. Now California has addressed to some degree this "rule" by disallowing a "used" car with less than 7,500 miles on it. OK, thats a reasonable solution, it's their law, gotta play by their rules. So what's the problem with this solution in Mass? There does not seem to be a mileage limitation, nor a time limitation. Could be done in two days! Or even ONE day for that matter, depending on how long the paper work takes, if it has to be mailed, etc.

[Don]

Titling it in someone else's name, in another state. is not circumventing the law, it's playing by the rules.

Might not be when included in the intent is the avoidance of paying the local property tax, i.e., location where the vehicle is principally garaged. One of the reasons, from a tax revenue viewpoint, where states require the registration to be transferred to the new residence state within, as an example, 60 days.