Originally Posted by nathanbforrest45

There are many reasons the car may be illegal and nothing to do with the oil companies. It may be that its too small for the road. It may be that it has not passed EPA regulations, it may be that it hasn't passed various safety regs. Without knowing more than just your post it would be impossible to ascertain exactly why this car is currently illegal. It may be made legal by the simple addition of turn signals and air bags, who knows.

By the way, I would be willing to speculate that half of the cost of a new car today is government mandated safety and environmental regulatioins