Here is the new Mass registration/inspection procedure.

Step 1. You'll still have to endure the state police inspection since that's a law enforcement issue rather than a title issue. We are trying to get a meeting with the senior officer in charge of the centers so we can get a common set of rules and hours of operation. For now, it's the same as before, no worse. We advise you to have receipts for everything you buy, and be sure to have the VIN of any donor parts.

Step 2. You'll take the VIN that the state police assign and use it to get your insurance and plates. This has not changed. Your registration certificate will state the year of manufacture, the model and an indication that the car is a replica or specially constructed vehicle.

Step 3. Go to your neighborhood inspection station, pay the $29, and just ask the guy for a emissions rejection sticker. He does not even have to do a safety inspection, just get the big red E and move along. You can drive the car with the reject sticker for 60 days, so you are not losing any driving time. Just make sure it is the E rejection and not the safety rejection.

Step 4. Once you have the E sticker, you can visit a MAC and they will do a safety inspection and enter your VIN into the computer as being emissions exempt. You will need basic safety equipment, such as headlights, turn signals, brake lights, horn seat belts and wipers. All lighting has to carry DOT markings. The windshield must be safety plate glass (laminated, not tempered).

Step 5. Return to the inspection station that issued the rejection. You will then get a free re-inspection and your car will show up in the computer as being emissions exempt. You can then drive away smiling. You will have a street-legal, emissions exempt car that will keep its emissions exempt status even when sold to another owner. The car can leave and return to Massachusetts and keep the exemption.

If you currently own a car that is correctly described on the title and registration (i.e. "2009 Factory Five", not "1965 Cobra"), you can start at Step 3. You won't have to get your inspection stickers at "Midnight Walmart" again. Any car registered before April 30, 2012 will follow this procedure, including cars that are purchased from out-of-state, as long as they are properly described.

Here's the bad news: If you have a registration that incorrectly describes the car as a "1965 Cobra", you should consider yourself busted. They know who you are and have told us they know. You can consider the period from now until April 2012 as an amnesty period. You can have the car re-titled to properly describe it and the state will do so at no cost. No inspection fees and no title fees. The downside is that if you get caught after April 2012, your car will not be allowed on the road until it is emissions legal. This topic has come up at every meeting we've had with DEP and RMV, and we have agreed to spread the word among our forum brothers. I know it's cool to have that "1965 Cobra" or something like it on the reg, but we all know it's not and the state has no interest in helping anyone perpetrate fraud.

The procedure for the period starting May 1, 2012 will be different, and we'll keep you abreast of the new rules as they evolve.