I wish I had bought it from Dennis. In fact, I bought it from a private party that had consigned it to a non-Morgan dealer south of LA. I did communicate with Morgan-Spares (the Morgan dealer in New York) and they said that there’s no way the component cars can pass inspection in Massachusetts. I’ll call Dennis tomorrow and see if he can help.
It looks like there’s another very complicated route I can go if this doesn’t work out. In digging in further, the laws in Massachusetts are crazy, but there is a difficult and convoluted way to get this registered.
The car is considered a “replica” of a 1965 Morgan Plus 4 (that’s how it was imported and then put together), similar to a kit car.
First, the car has to be registered as “Replica” instead of “Plus 4.”
Then when taken for inspection it fails the emissions test because of OBD communications incompatibility with the State machine readers. At this point, you’re supposed to take it to a single designated State center for visual inspection. There are further checks on engine & transmission compatibility, gear ratios, etc., which are typically next-to-impossible to pass without replacing the engine and transmission with a certified configuration. Morgan-spares says it’s impossible to get component Morgan’s to pass this in MA.
However, there’s a loophole! A vehicle can obtain a lifetime emissions inspection exemption by permanently retiring an older vehicle (of any make and model as long as it was registered in the last 5 years) in Massachusetts, and then using that vehicle's inspection status in place of your own. This is typically referred to as the "crush" car method of obtaining an emissions waiver. Literally, you have to purchase an old car of any kind that is older than 1974, have it crushed at a junk yard, and get them to sign a certificate that the old car has been destroyed.
You can now receive a lifetime emissions inspection exemption for the Morgan. To be clear, the Morgan would be titled as "replica", not "salvage".
You can’t make this stuff up.
