Title Help

[waketek516 10]

Hey guys,

 

I'm wondering if any of you have had to go through some hoops to Title your cars. I'll give you the back story...

 

I live in CA (Orange County), and bought my Fastback from a guy in Texas named Alan last spring. He sent me a title for the car, but it is outdated and already filled out by a previous owners in this order

 

The front of the title has the owner as Alex K. (1995)

The back of the title has it being transferred from Alex K. to Bob G. (1997)

 

Apparently Bob G. never mailed it in to get new paperwork since he took it off the road and never registered it. He stripped the car down to the shell and got in over his head. Bob then sold it to Alan. (2005) Alan then sold it to me. (2013)

 

So the original Title I have is for the right car, but its so old now (shows the original was 1995) that I'm not sure the best way to get this sorted out.

 

I looked at the CA DMV Website and they have the following page about Titling a car that has missing/no history:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs%2Fbrochures/howto/htvr14.htm

 

It looks like I'd have to fill out several forms to get it done, but one of the forms requires the DMV to inspect the car as well. That's where I run into my second problem...

 

The car doesn't have its original door tags. Is there anywhere else Ford would have stamped the VIN on the body of the car? I know its the right car since I was given lots of photos of the tear down and stripping/priming of the body. I also pulled the Marti Report for the car using the VIN on the title, and it matches everything the seller told me (originally an auto, 351, Gold int, Gold ext, etc).

 

Any help would be appreciated! I'm sure I'm not the only guy who's missing the door tag since they were only riveted on. :pinch:

Edited December 4, 2013 by waketek516

[1969vert 55]

Stamped on the top rail by the shock towers...have to remove fenders to see it...

[Brian Conway 264]

Had some aggravation trying to register my Texas car in California as well. The short story is; went to the DMV hoops and hurdles. Went to AAA more of the same. Went to a registering service paid $50.00 and had the new registered title with tags the same day. Brian

[indianfiremach 170]

You also should have a vin at the lower driver's side windshield corner where the dashpad meets the windshield. You can order new VIN plates from Kevin Marti, www.martiauto.com.

[waketek516 10]

Had some aggravation trying to register my Texas car in California as well. The short story is; went to the DMV hoops and hurdles. Went to AAA more of the same. Went to a registering service paid $50.00 and had the new registered title with tags the same day. Brian

 

Do you remember the name of the service you went through?

[JCB-69CJ 11]

As others stated , vin is at the lower driver's side windshield corner where the dashpad meets the windshield and under the front fenders. If you cannot see the dash vin remove the dashpad as sometimes when putting it back on the vin tag can be covered by mistake. Don't ask how I know that. The dash vin is considered the only legal vin tag in most states. Door tags do not qualify for registration and it states that on them as well.

 

You can get door data tags reproduced from marti but not the dashboard vin tag. I have never seen that for sale on his website for obvious reasons. If the fender vin is all you have and no dash vin I can't offer advice. From what I have learned the dash vin is the only one recognized as legit.

 

Search the forum and you will find previous posts on this very subject and possible solutions, one being a dmv issued replacement vin. Good luck.

Edited December 4, 2013 by JCB-69CJ

[Brian Conway 264]

Do you remember the name of the service you went through?

 

www.finestcityreg.com

[JTG 10]

If you have the VIN near the windshied you should be fine.

 

A friend of mine lives in Florida and was with a buddy who had to trailer in a car to get the title done. He said the girl that came out to check the car was in heels and didn't even bother to look at the VIN. She had the guy read the VIN to her, she looked at the title and said "They match, you're good".

 

I just thought that was funny.

[LindenBruce 27]

All you need is the window VIN. The door plates are for warranty work only and not to be used as part of the vehicle registry. You can check the shock tower VINs to see if they match the window VIN. If they don't be cautious. The car could be stolen. If the two different VIN's don't match, have DMV run both of them to make sure they are clear. Just don't tell them they are on the same car!!!

 

As long as the window VIN is there and it matchs your supporting documents it is easy from there. Just go to DMV and tell them you need to register this car in your name, you have supporting documents, and they will prolly tell you they need to have a VIN verification completed before they can complete the process. They will give you a form that ANY peace officer can fill out as they inspect the car and your documents. So, your local officer can do the inspection or you can have CHP do the inspection. But honestly, just call your local LE and have them do it. There will be a small fee but it's really not that much. After you take care of business at your local LE's office they will send an officer out to your house for the inspection. Just DON'T ask them if they want milk and donuts. LOL. B.

Edited December 4, 2013 by LindenBruce

[waketek516 10]

First off - Big thanks to everyone here!! Excellent info from everyone!!

 

I went home at lunch and checked the car out again. Luckily I found VERY good news - All 3 VINs (dash & both fenders) all match! The passenger side fender VIN was partially welded over at one point, but I can probably clean it up with a wire wheel/grinder

Dash Plate

Driver Side Rail

Passenger Side Rail

 

Now I'll look into going through the DMV paperwork vs. using an agency like Brian did...

[LindenBruce 27]

Don't worry about the passenger side VIN being welded over. Just leave it like it is. Anyone with a brain will look at it and see it is a factory thing. But if you try and clean it up someone may scratch their head and think, "What's going on here? Someone trying to pull a fast one?" The last digit was destroyed in the welding process anyway.

 

Good news they all match and you found the one under your dash pad. B.

[Kris 90]

I had a somewhat similar problem with my title. My car is a texas car also and I am from there. Some friends of my parents had owned the car since it was new and drove it until 74 and parked it in their barn when they blew the motor. My uncle purchased it from them in like 1980. He stored it in his upholstery shop until I got it from him in 2010 still untouched from when he got it. The problem I had was my uncle never got the title changed over into his name and he even lost the title and couldn't find it. On top of that, it still had a lean from the bank from where the original owner had never taken the payoff letter to the dmv to have removed. The worst part was the bank the lean was through closed in the early 80's. I had to do quite a bit or research and call the national credit union association and they were able to tell me what bank was in charge of all the records from that bank. I had to have them send the release paperwork to the original owed whom my parents were still good friends with so it was not an issue. When I went to the dmv to get a copy of the title and do the transfer they were only able to pull it up because I had the old registration paperwork. Since it was so long ago it was last registered they had to pull it up on micro fish. Luckily I had found a original registration paperwork still in the glovebox from the last time it was registered in 74 and it helped them locate the info they needed to help them find the records. They said records are only kept active on their system for 5 yrs after a car is last registered, after that it goes on micro fish. They said normally micro fish is only kept on file for 10 years after that before it is trashed unless someone pulls that particular roll for something then it is held of another 10 years. Luckily for me apparently other people had the roll I needed pulled several times in the past for other cars on the roll LOL. It all worked out where I got the title but had to do some leg work and a lot of time on the phone to track down all the information to make it happen. If I not for a lot of luck I would have had to do a bonded title and from what the dmv told me is very expensive. Good luck

[RPM 1,190]

"IF" this were my car, and since it is not stolen, and only the last registered owner signature is needed, I would conveniently "find" him to sign a bill of sale. He might even be in your neighborhood, or in the parking lot at the DMV. The dmv doesn't know or check to match signatures. I've had extremely good luck locating folks who I needed to sign DMV forms. Or... you can jump thru the DMV hoops and their headaches.

 

 

 

Bob

[waketek516 10]

"IF" this were my car, and since it is not stolen, and only the last registered owner signature is needed, I would conveniently "find" him to sign a bill of sale. He might even be in your neighborhood, or in the parking lot at the DMV. The dmv doesn't know or check to match signatures. I've had extremely good luck locating folks who I needed to sign DMV forms. Or... you can jump thru the DMV hoops and their headaches.

 

 

 

Bob

 

:batman:

[manley 13]

If you have the VIN near the windshied you should be fine.

 

A friend of mine lives in Florida and was with a buddy who had to trailer in a car to get the title done. He said the girl that came out to check the car was in heels and didn't even bother to look at the VIN. She had the guy read the VIN to her, she looked at the title and said "They match, you're good".

 

I just thought that was funny.

 

I had the exact same thing happen in Ohio with my car.