Historic motor vehicles, permanent registration, fee

301.131. Historic motor vehicles, permanent registration, fee — license plates — annual mileage allowed, record to be kept — penalty. — 1. Any motor vehicle over twenty-five years old which is owned solely as a collector's item and which is used and intended to be used for exhibition and educational purposes shall be permanently registered upon payment of a registration fee of twenty-five dollars. Upon the transfer of the title to any such vehicle the registration shall be cancelled and the license plates issued therefor shall be returned to the director of revenue.

2. The owner of any such vehicle shall file an application in a form prescribed by the director, if such vehicle meets the requirements of this section, and a certificate of registration shall be issued therefor. Such certificate need not specify the horsepower of the motor vehicle.

3. The director shall issue to the owner of any motor vehicle registered pursuant to this section the same number of license plates which would be issued with a regular annual registration, containing the number assigned to the registration certificate issued by the director of revenue. Such license plates shall be made with fully reflective material with a common color scheme and design, shall be clearly visible at night, and shall be aesthetically attractive, as prescribed by section 301.130.

4. Historic vehicles may be driven to and from repair facilities one hundred miles from the vehicle's location, and in addition may be driven up to one thousand miles per year for personal use. The owner of the historic vehicle shall be responsible for keeping a log of the miles driven for personal use each calendar year. Such log must be kept in the historic vehicle when the vehicle is driven on any state road. The historic vehicle's mileage driven in an antique auto tour or event and mileage driven to and from such a tour or event shall not be considered mileage driven for the purpose of the mileage limitations in this section. Violation of this section shall be punishable under section 301.440 and in addition to any other penalties prescribed by law, upon plea or finding of guilt thereof, the director of revenue shall revoke the historic motor vehicle license plates of such violator which were issued pursuant to this section.

5. Notwithstanding any provisions of this section to the contrary, any person possessing a license plate issued by the state of Missouri that is over twenty-five years old, in which the year of the issuance of such plate is consistent with the year of the manufacture of the vehicle, the owner of the vehicle may register such plate as an historic vehicle plate as set forth in subsections 1 and 2 of this section, provided that the configuration of letters, numbers or combination of letters and numbers of such plate are not identical to the configuration of letters, numbers or combination of letters and numbers of any plates already issued to an owner by the director. Such license plate shall not be required to possess the characteristic features of reflective material and common color scheme and design as prescribed in section 301.130. The owner of the historic vehicle registered pursuant to this subsection shall keep the certificate of registration in the vehicle at all times. The certificate of registration shall be prima facie evidence that the vehicle has been properly registered with the director and that all fees have been paid.