I suspect the issue with it is that because when it was new, it didn't meet the safety or emission standards for that time. The vehicle was not allowed to be sold in the USA at the time it was new. That logic may apply to older import vehicles that were not originally sold in the USA for the same specific reasons, but I don't see how it could apply to any vehicle that was originally legally offered for sale in the USA when it was new. Fed vehicle laws always apply to the laws that were on the books when the vehicle was new, those laws do not required old vehicles to be brought up to modern standards.

The law in question is a new law. That would mean that if enough people called their representatives in Maine, that law could be over turned, or the 1st person that had the resolve to take it to court, could get the law overturned.

I suspect that somewhere along the way, a law maker's family member got killed by (or in) one of these vehicles in an accident that was caused by a safety feature that was a standard requirement for the time period it was new, that was not on that vehicle. Hence the very specific nature of this particular law and this very specific vehicle. The lawmaker's family member got killed in one of these things, so he made it a point to be sure he got them off of the roads.

Just because the Fed determined a vehicle over 25 years old can now be imported when it originally could not be sold here, doesn't mean the States need to comply with the Fed. I believe we are about to see a lot of states refusing to comply with the wishes of the fed gov on many issues coming in the near future. The individual States have the right to determine many things that are legal or not in its state. Gene