Yahoo Autos Massachusetts Denies Nissan Skyline Registration, Claims Car for 'Off Road Use'
The Nissan Skyline has accumulated quite a fan base over the years — in no small. part due to the power and performance of its GT-R variant — but here in the United States, it's largely been forbidden fruit. The R34-generation model that has grown to iconic status only became street-legal in America this year, sending plenty of fans into a tizzy as they work to import the Skyline of their dreams.
But it hasn't been entirely smooth sailing. One enthusiast, for example, is fighting with the commonwealth of Massachusetts over registering his Skyline because the state claims his car is, in fact, not legal for street use.
The trouble in large part comes down to Massachusetts's apparent desire to ban Japanese Kei cars and trucks — the smallest category of highway-legal vehicle sold in Japan, — from its roads, as the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) claims they're unsafe to use on public highways. No matter how one might feel about that, it's clear the R34-gen Nissan Skyline isn't anywhere close to a diminutive Kei-class car — but despite that, owner Peter Ferraro is in the midst of convincing the state that his car is, in fact, federally legal.
Kei cars that are 25 years old or older, like all such quarter-century-plus passenger cars and trucks not originally certified for U.S. roads, are legal to own in the USA under the feds' so-called 25-year import rule. For reasons Massachusetts isn't making abundantly clear, the state is trying to fight that for Kei cars — and, it seems, lumping in other vehicles from Japan. Ferraro said he was told that his car's registration was denied because the NHTSA indicates cars like his are "mainly for off-road use."
Even though Ferraro says he included his NHTSA approval for the imported car in his registration paperwork, he claims the clerk who denied his registration told him that "we do not register any Japanese vehicles." (Interestingly, the RMV also denied a 1997 BMW 5 Series in July, suggesting a broader issue.)
Ferraro says he talked to a Massachusetts state senator about this, who thanked him for pursuing the matter. "Our office is currently drafting a letter to the RMV and the Secretary of Transportation formally requesting a determination on this matter and asking for a timeline for the determination," the senator's office told Ferraro. "Our office is also in an ongoing discussion about filing legislation dependent on their decision."
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