Gordon beat you to it.  Massachusetts is turning into California!  Ya already have that Flake Elizabeth Warren so it won't be long.

Hate to say this but those standards are WAY stricter than California. Automotive enthusiasts can lift, lower, and tint their cars to certain levels, but they aren't this strict. Trucks and cars can be lowered as long as no part of the frame is lower than the bottom edge of the car's rims. In California Body Lifts are limited to a maximum of 5 inches. Suspension lifts are also restricted by state frame height laws. The maximum frame height for vehicles under 4,500 GVWR is 27 inches, 4,501-7,500 is 30 inches and 7,501 to 10,000have a maximum height of 31 inches. Windows can be tinted to the point where only 2% of light passes through all of the windows behind the driver and passenger and no more than 30% of the light can be blocked coming through the driver and passenger window and no tinting except for a small strip can be applied to the top of the front windshield.

Typical lowered car

Typical tinted windows

Typical lifted truck

Actually Prarit (TheTango) contacted me a couple of days ago about this.  I dropped by my closest "Motorist Assistance Center" (MAC) just to see what they would think of a replica registration and found the place to be deserted.  Next step, while finding a MAC that's open and has someone competent to talk to, is to see what the Cobra replica and Hot Rod guys have to go through in the coming months.

I honestly do not know how the DMV and MAC would handle a VW-based replica if it has been on the road for almost twenty years as a Faux Porsche, but is registered as a VW convertible.  If you'll remember, Prarit had to buy a pre-1974 car and get it crushed for the salvage title to apply to his Seduction 550 Spyder to get it on the road.  Since I did not net-add a car to the population but just continued with (more-or-less) what I already had and which pre-dates 1974, I don't know how they handle that.   I do know that the MACs seem to have a lot (maybe too much) authority in this, to the extent of being "Big Brother" looking over the shoulder of anyone doing a car inspection.  Those garage guys must LOVE that.    This story will get a lot uglier before it gets better.

Thanks for the update and attempted research Gordon.  It will be interesting to see what you find out. 

There was some interesting discussion and explanation from an Inspector on the Massachusetts subreddit a few weeks ago:

https://np.reddit.com/r/massac..._inspection/dmr575k/

and (I can't find the comment) another Inspector said something to the effect of "If your car would legitimately pass before, it will pass after."  After reading several websites' reporting, I think they are concentrating on after-market modders who have done crazy things with their vehicles (lift kits, loud exhaust, extremely tinted windows, rolling-coal, etc.), and not "safe" vehicles that have passed through the MAC already.

I'm hoping for the best but after many sleepless nights last year while trying to get the car on the road in MA, I can't help but be nervous.

Some old timers here may remember SOCer TC/Team Evil posting here years ago.  He started thread on same subject in relationship to dune buggies on SAMBA.  Seems if your vehicle is registered as say a 1971 VW Sedan but is bodied as a convertible Speedster you will fail too.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/fo...ewtopic.php?t=687458

Years ago Army threatened to move my job to FT Devens  "Taxachusectts" - even then I was so glad it didn't happen.

Part of that years back was because there was no registration designation for "Dune Buggy" until ten years ago.  Heck, when I registered my first dune buggy in 1967 I actually drove to the nearby DMV office and asked the officer in charge what I should do (showing him photos of my car and magazine pictures of buggies in California).  He scratched his head for a while and then asked, "Is there some way that you could include sleeping or cooking facilities in that thing?  If you could, you could register it as a camper."

So I bought a one-burner Coleman propane camp stove, secured it fast to the rear seat area (sharing the area with my 15.5 gallon aluminum Beer Keg gas tank), installed a dead propane cylinder in it (for looks) and registered it as a camper.  Never got a blink out of anyone when I got the yearly inspection, either, and never failed an inspection.

I got stopped once by a DMV officer who read my registration and never even blinked - all he cared about was too much rear tire showing when viewed from behind.  I ended up installing a round-the-back mudflap about 6" tall and that satisfied him. It actually made the car look better, too!