From: Ron (rojoha@comcast.net)
Date: Fri Feb 27 2004 - 05:18:05 PST
You can register them several different ways in the Gay....errr, Bay state,
with several caveats....
A) To be registered as an ANTIQUE, it must be 25 years old or older. I
carry an RMV application affidavit for Antique plates with me when driving
my 1968 M35A2 (registered as a 13 passenger antique pick up, classified by
the registry folks themselves, not me). The application states you can only
drive it on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, legal holidays, and to club
meetings and purposes of public education and maintenance. It also very
clearly states that it is NOT to be used PRIMARILY for the transportation of
goods or people. My lawyer says that is a legal weasel wording, since the
word PRIMARILY does not mean it CAN NOT be used for hauling lumber for you
own personal project, or loading the neighborhood troops in back for a spin
around the block. Lots of Commonwealth constabulary (especially a selective
enforcement/traffic nazi in Woburn) interpret it to mean week ends and
holidays only with nothing in the truck bed, including your tent for the
rally, parts you are hauling to the flea market, or even a cooler.
My lawyer says it's a no brainer if you go to court with a lawyer to
fight a citation given to you as long as you aren't hauling for dollars,
regardless of day or what you are hauling. Defending yourself in these
instances is silly, since you are too close to the problem and losing it in
front of the judge is poor form. I've had two stops where I have politely
taken out the application form and shown the officer the PRIMARILY wording
and asked him what that means. They both backed off at that point, after
checking for fire extinguisher, chocks and hazard triangles. Cost last year
was $35.00 for fees and plates for one year.
B) My 1985 M1010 is registered as a 4 door, 9 passenger SUV, since it is
not 25 years old. Passenger plates are (were?) multi year, slightly cheaper
than commercial plates. With Romney as Governor claiming the new higher fees
are not a tax increase, who knows where this will end up....
C) Commercial plates let you drive your vehicle anytime you want, and
are required if you have dual wheels and it does not qualify as an antique
or RV (Camper). Gets pricey very fast based on $X per thousand pounds of
vehicle weight, but you can drive it when you want.
D) If you have a toilet, AC/DC power distribution and a water system in
your truck, you could register it as an RV. So add a porta potty to your
M109 shop van, and you could go that way, driving it whenever and wherever
you want, as long as it doesn't exceed the bridge weight limit.
E) Trailers are based on a flat rate up to 3k pounds weight, then $X
dollars per so many pounds over 3k, good for one year and are not eligible
for antique plates.
I am headed over the border to New Hampshire where they are much more
reasonable about these types of things, both in regs and fees.....
Hope this helps.....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Steve Randall" <srandall64@hotmail.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: 26 February, 2004 22:00
Subject: [MV] Question on Registering in Mass.
> Does anyone know, what the policy in Ma. is on Military vehicles?
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat May 07 2005 - 20:28:37 PDT