I am moving to the Twin Cities area in late June. What is the car show scene like there? Also, what does it cost for title and plates for vehicles? Any other stuff an insider can tell me about MN?

Cold as sh*t and housing cost is out of control.

Jim can handle the rest.

Plenty car shows! Every Sat. night in the summer there is a cruise in type car show in Anoka (15 miles north of Minneapolis). I've seen anywhere from 200-400 cars there depending on weather! There's others also, but that's usually pretty fun. Registration is about $40.00 for an older car. You can also opt for collector plates for around $100.00 that are good for life but have restricted use terms. Newer vehicles are more depending on value. What town are you looking at moving to?

CfunK is right about housing! The market is insane.

i paid $35 for the collector plates on the Nova 4 years ago, and was told the only real restriction was that you had to have another vehicle registered and insured. read the regulation, and it never says how much or when you can drive it. never need to buy tabs for that car again.
any car/light truck (up to 3/4 ton) older than 7 years only costs $35 a year to register. no smog inspection.
as for housing- avoid the metro area if at all possible. go about 50 miles out in any direction, and life gets a lot cheaper really fast. can't say much about the state of car shows- but i always see flyers for local car shows around here, but we do get the CC Summer Nats every July, and Back to the 50's in June or so.

You didn't get a job with a telco up there did you?

Car Craft is July 16th ~ 18th. Usually a great time. I'll be there, but my 69 won't be.

So far its all true that you've read. Cold at times in winter, but it kills off the mosquitos. Housing is nuts around the core metro and the interstate ring, as stated stay out 30 to 50 miles and homes are much more affordable. Email me for a good Realtor referral, I have many good friends in real estate there. No shortage of car shows, in addition to those already mentioned, short drives give you St cloud, Brainerd, Bemidji, Cloquet, Duluth, Little Falls, Long Prarie drive in theater cruise night, and many others. Check out Hemmings for the list.
welcome to Minn. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Thanks for all of the info. I grew up in north central Wisconsin so the cold weather is fine by me (same latitude). Like one of you said it kills off the nastys. I know housing is expensive, but I think I will rent for about a year (the rental market is pretty soft right now) and wait for interest rates to tick up. That should cool off the housing market some. I will be working as a field engineer in the insurance business. What are state taxes like?

Welcome to Minnesota. "Land of 10,000 Taxes" Oh yeah, and a few lakes.