Copy of letter from AM General to Connecticut DMV - this basic letter has 'supposedly' been sent to the DMV's in all 50 states...
http://olive-drab.com/images/AMG_letter000314.jpg
'Tanner'
A lot of people seem to feel that letter has some sort of legislative standing... it doesn't. That is a legal CYA response letter from a private corporation to the Connecticut DMV. All it says is that AM General never intended HMMWVs to be in civilian hands, and that they do not condone HMMWVs being in civilian hands. If I t-bone a school bus in my M1026 and the angry parents sue me, the State of California, and AM General, AMG can wave their CYA letter in front of the judge and back away slowly toward the door.
As far as I know, no section of the California Vehicle Code states that HMMWVs are not to be registered. Even the DMV office that initially told me "no" didn't seem to care what AM General's opinion on the matter was... they just didn't want to deal with a non-standard VIN. Other states may differ, but I'd be surprised if they have written laws against titling HMMWVs.
While I agree that some of the methods used to title and register HMMWVs are a bit sketch, I personally have no uneasy feeling about how I got my title/reg... I made it very clear what I had, and DMV/CHP had no problem titling it as a '91 AMG UTL. It's possibly that both of them overlooked some federal DoT regulations in doing so... but then again, these trucks are also going on 20-25 years old, so who knows what kind of historical vehicle exemptions might have kicked in...