I feel your pain, stockman. Really.
My 1986 VW Cabriolet will be a "legal" twenty-five year old car on January 1, 2011. At that time, the car will no longer be required to pass the Texas emissions test. It will still require an annual $12.50 safety inspection fee for the window sticker. Nice drop from the $42.50 it has been.
Both my R65s are over twenty-five years old. Both carry Texas Antique Motorcycle license plates which are valid for five years and renewable every five years for a $52.60 fee. No inspection sticker or fee required.
The little 50cc Chinese scooter -supposedly bought for wife to ride the less than one mile to her schoolhouse job- needs both the annual plate fee at $44.00 plus change and an inspection sticker for $12.50. In two years, she's never ridden it, save for the one time around the city park grounds. She retired from teaching last May after 32 years. Don't expect her to hit the roads to the mall on the little thing. I mostly ride it up to Ace Hardware.
Still getting hammered every year for inspection and plate renewal fees for the Ford F150 and wife's Cadillac DTS.
Whatcha gonna do?
Monte