What to do?

Same here is CT.

When I lived in PA, they did the so called safety inspections twice a year. What a scam it was. I know they changed it to once a year when they started doing emission, but that may have changed.

Inspections was a money maker for the shops that did it. Some passed anything, others told you that you needed front end work even it you did not. Others had a gimmick. One shop I went to with three cars all needed a headlight adjustment. That was OK since the car had other expensive problems that were passed over for the quick buck.

Interesting. The OP wrote about driving to New Hampshire, "from CT", so maybe that means it is a CT registered and inspected vehicle.

Yes, it is registered in CT. We used to have to have safety inspections on cars older than 10 years but no more. We only have to do emissions testing yearly.

That's what we do here in New Jersey, except that the emissions inspections are every 2 years on the vehicle itself, regardless of any vehicle ownership changes.

So, if my vehicle passes inspection today (which is just emissions testing), then I get an inspection sticker that is good on thta vehicle until June of

If I sell the vehicle, the new owner is buying a vehicle with a valid inspection sticker that is good until June of 2017. That makes it easier to sell the vehicle because the new owner doesn't have to worry about the vehicle passing inspection simply because it has a new owner.

So, I had the belts and water pump done today and of course there are a couple of other major things going on. Leaking (not very badly) head gasket, two blown struts in the back and cv axle is torn. Costly problems.

From your second post:

"I was thinking about getting a newer car because I'm retired now and have the money to buy one. I'm thinking if I don't do it now, I won't be able to further down the road. I'm 63 now and it will probably be the last car for me. I'm making big life changes."

Good money after bad. Follow through. Get something in much better shape.

Given the other problems, I'd have said good bye to it. Where do you stop?

I agree. Sell it or trade it in. My vote would be to just sell it via Craigslist and/or a For Sale sign on the vehicle with the price. And, I would tell the truth to the buyer about what you had done on it, what they said is still needed, etc. That way, you would be selling it with a clear conscience.

I was looking at a friend's 97 Jaguar XK8 convertible last night. He just put replaced the water pump. He did the work himself and got the part online for only $40. The car was sitting in a guy's yard for a while. My friend bought the car for $3500. A pretty good paint job cost a little under $3000 and he did some work on the wheels and exhaust and had the top dyed. There was only 30,000 miles on the thing and the engine sounded great. He blipped the throttle and it gave a wonderful mechanical turbine whine. Most amazing! He spent $10,000 so far and boy, the car is something else. I think he's one lucky guy!