The only time I drive my S13 is to and from the track so it would be nice to lose the state inspection requirement. Last year I saw a few 1989 vehicles with vintage VA tags so I thought I would be eligible as of 1/1/15. The curve ball is the dmv site states "If you own a passenger vehicle, trailer, semi-trailer or motorcycle with a model year that is more than 25 model years old before January 1 of the current calendar year, you've got an antique!"

This leads you to think that a car has to 26 years old instead of 25. Has anyone had experience registering a 1988-1990 car for vintage tags over the past few years?

 

I'm pretty sure 25 years plus a day is "more than 25 years old". Either way, I'll be registering my Z as an antique in February when the registration runs out so I can tell you for sure by then.

 

I don't know if VA is the same as many states, but the vintage tags often come with some restrictions and yearly mileage caps. I think the 25 years is according to month of manufacture, at least that's the way it is for 25 year importation laws. I'm no expert in that, but it's a good starting point of things to start researching.

 

By the way, vintage plates and antique plates are different things I'm pretty sure. You'll still need to pass safety inspection.

Start by Googling "virginia antique plates"

 

I just registered for antique tags for my 90 cressida yesterday.
They go by model year. You can get antiques on jan 1 of any 25 year old car if dmv was open on new years day.
You must have another vehicle with standard registration. Antique vehicle cannot be your only registered vehicle.
Must have insurance. 250 mile round trip maximum. No state inspection needed but you indicate that it's safe for use on public roads in the application.

Beware. I was carrying a mattress in my toyota pickup with antique tags. I was stopped by a trooper and ticketed for "improper use of antiques". According to him, the truck (with antique registration) could not be used to haul anything unless I was participating in a parade or car show/event. The judge agreed and found me guilty. This is classified as a misdemeanor!

 

Wait the 250 mile is round trip? That's fucking ridiculous. I'm going to have to really think about this. I don't use the car but a couple thousand miles a year but I can't even cruise to the dragon on that.

 

I doubt that you would run into any trouble exceeding the mileage limit while attending car events. I drove my truck to events from Va to New Jersey and Maryland without a problem. Just drove sensibly. I did the same with my Corolla years ago without any issues.

I never had issues using my truck to haul leaves and trash to the dump without a problem passing county cops all the time. I would see other trucks with antiques hauling trash at the dump. It's all illegal. I built my truck to haul so it has standard plates now.

 

I don't think they can enforce that anyway. On the very remote chance you get stopped, you could just tell them you trailered the car to the event and you are now just cruising around.

 

Disable the odometer...

 

Who cares what the odometer says. They can't tell if it was miles put up during the trip or not.