[Bumpster]

B/Stock touched on the point that may be most important here, and that is about what we have to go through to get our replicas registered. I'm having the same worries as he is about registering my Cobra when I get it this summer. If there was one clear path laid out by the dmv to follow, I would gladly do it. What seems to be the case in my area is that, when you register, you need to deal with a clerk who has experience doing exactly what you need done, which is to get it registered as you want it (65 Cobra, new homebuilt, or whatever). If you deal with someone who has no such experience, you may never get it done, or get so bogged down and confused that it seems impossible. That's what drives people to the title mills who claim to cut through all the crap, for a fee gladly paid, and off you go. I don't think any of us want to "go around" the system, we just want to be able to deal with it and understand it so we can legally drive our cars. I would wager that I could call ten clerks in title offices in Florida and get ten different answers as to how to register my car. I've heard too many horror stories about this subject to expect anything less.

As far as this post goes regarding police officers, that's brings mixed emotions to the top. When you're a crime victim, involved in an accident, or anything like that, a police officer is someone you are very glad to see. The chance of this happening to any of us during our lifetime are quite small, however. Most often we see police officers hiding behind trees with radar guns in areas that have unrealistically low speed limits, the dreaded "speed traps".
Their image is one of an adversary that you need to watch out for or you'll get busted. And please don't tell me that speed traps are somehow for our own good, I'll never believe that. They are revenue producing methods and nothing more, and they give police a poor image. And no, I've never gotten a ticket from a speed trap, so this is nothing personal, but every time I see one it generates a real negative feeling about police.As much as anyone, I appreciate the help and protection our police provide when we need it, and thanks to all those officers on this forum and everywhere else who provide it, but try to see the image that's created by the things I've described and the event that started this post.

Maybe this whole thing revolves around the bureaucratic mess that we seem to butt our heads against every time we need to do something with the government. How many of us do our own income taxes? Does it have to be so intimidating to go to register your car? Can you do anything "legal" without a lawyer these days? Why are we doing this to ourselves? What happened to "government by the people?" We seem to be victims of it rather than in control of it.

Bumpster