@muddybuddy before going down to look at it, we voiced concern to the seller about emissions and we sent him the FAQ page that I linked up above. The seller agreed beforehand to take it back if it failed. He was a real nice guy, wished us good luck and all that and said he was just gonna keep my buddy's money in a safe until he heard back on what happened.
A general update is that my friend is indeed going to go for registration in a non-emissions county. He's going to try getting a PO Box in Summit County and use that to register the Bronco. He went to a slightly seedy emissions shop yesterday and the tech suggested that approach. I am crossing my fingers for him. In all honesty I would have just bailed and gotten my money back, but he really likes this thing and wants to keep it. He's a braver man than I.
EDIT: I forgot to mention the exemption laws here in CO. If you spend $715 on repairs then you can apply for a waiver. He thinks the PO Box route is cheaper, and he gets a little bonus of keeping the emissions crap off his truck.