74 Challenger craigslist find

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What has happened to all these titles? It seems like 75% of stuff sold has NO title!
 
Yep, no engine, no transmission, no title, and $500 worth of tires makes it a $4800 shell?

That steering wheel might be a rarity though.
 
It really makes one wonder, the most important things always missing IE...Fender Tag,Vin Plate,Title,go figure.........
 
I got into a 'ell of a mess with a member over on Moparts before I gave up on that joint, about removing fender tags. So far as I'm concerned, a fender tag should be thought of just like a VIN........it goes with the car it came with.
 
Especially considering the "fender" tag is not mounted on the fender, but on the body of the car. They should have spot welded those things on at the factory.
 
cuda65vpt said:
Yep, no engine, no transmission, no title, and $500 worth of tires makes it a $4800 shell?

That steering wheel might be a rarity though.
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That steering wheel is pretty common , I even have one hanging on my garage wall
 
Man you all get to hung up on tittles! If your interested in a car without a tittle, it's easy to check if it is stolen or not. Get a copy of the vin go to your state police office and have them run it! There are a lot of reason why there are so many car out there with no tittles. People die and family can't find the tittle. People lose them ( I know I've lost a few) and don't want the hassle of going to DMV to get a copy. Getting a tittle on older cars is not that much work. If you really want the car do the work. Problem is like this car, you get to a point where the worth of the car may not warrant the cost (about $300.00) and the leg work to get a tittle. I'll bet if this was a 70 hemi Cuda you would do what ever it takes. As far as fender tags. I can give you one scenario why they get gone. The easiest way to decode a fender tag is to unscrew it and have it on a desk in front of you as your decoding it line by line! Especially years ago before the internet. Case in point I sold a rust bucket 70 340 Duster to a member here years ago. Had the tittle but I had taken the fender tag off years before to decode it and couldn't find it when I sold it. Couple of years later I ran across it in one of my motors manuals. I contacted the buyer and sent it to him! Hey $HIT happens.
 
No title is not that big of a deal here. First just have chp run the car to make sure it's not stolen. At that point if the seller is the true owner, it's as simple as filling out a form and paying a fairly cheap transfer fee.
 
ESP47 said:
No title is not that big of a deal here. First just have chp run the car to make sure it's not stolen. At that point if the seller is the true owner, it's as simple as filling out a form and paying a fairly cheap transfer fee.
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Yup yup yup. I agree . Bought my cuda w a written bill of sale after i had TX DOT run the vin making sure there was no lein and it wasnt stolen. Got a bonded title 3 years ago. Finally had bond removed, and got title changed to reflect that.
 
Yeah, it's soooo easy but the seller doesn't have the time or money to do it? If it is easy for anyone it's the lawful owner. Many cars may not be "stolen" in the system but that doesn't mean the person selling it has the right to do it. Like you say, people die, divorces, etc. But in many of those cases it's somebody selling it out from under the lawful owner. Maybe you will be fine, maybe the rightful owner shows up after you dish out the $4500.
 
We had the opposite problem with one of my Son's cars.
They guy he bought it from gave him a title with it.
Motor vehicles had a more current record of a title with a womans name on it as well.
And another one with just the womans name on it. :-D

Come to find out, she took his house too.
 
That car has been on CL a few different times. Doesn't look like a horrible start, but it will really depend on how many of the old parts are reusable and how many were lost. Otherwise there could be a lot little stuff to buy. I've been tempted to go look at it as its not too far from me, but I've already got too many projects and for a '74 in its condition its not a steal at that price.

Its a '74, so even if the fender tag is missing (doesn't say) it really doesn't matter all that much. It was either a 318 or 360 car, and that's about it. With no engine, it can't be numbers matching anyway. Would be a good way to start a pro-touring car or similar, since it'll never be original anyway.

The title isn't that big of a deal here in California. As long as its not stolen you can get a title for it. Depending on the exact situation it could be really easy, a little complicated, or just a big old headache. But in all of those cases, you can still get a title for it here, so I wouldn't let that stop you as long as you can run the VIN and make sure it isn't stolen. I've dealt with all three of those situations with the cars I have, and I have all of the titles now. It just took varying amounts of paperwork and patience to make it happen in each case.

More than likely its just a project that has changed hands a few times. People don't seem eager to run out and shell out the cash to register a project that doesn't run and drive, and once its changed hands a couple times the title is usually long gone. In my experience its usually not malicious, its just lazy people that don't want to deal with the DMV or pay any extra money until they absolutely have to.
 
As far as fender tags. I can give you one scenario why they get gone. The easiest way to decode a fender tag is to unscrew it and have it on a desk in front of you as your decoding it line by line!
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Easier to take a picture or a paper rubbing of it then to actually unscrew it. :)
 
Hersbird said:
Yeah, it's soooo easy but the seller doesn't have the time or money to do it? If it is easy for anyone it's the lawful owner. Many cars may not be "stolen" in the system but that doesn't mean the person selling it has the right to do it. Like you say, people die, divorces, etc. But in many of those cases it's somebody selling it out from under the lawful owner. Maybe you will be fine, maybe the rightful owner shows up after you dish out the $4500.
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Thats why if the state your in allows you to put a bond against the title you do so. Usually a bonded title is required to remain that way for a few years. Texas requires 3 years. After that if nobody has claimed ownership you go into your DMV, have the bond removed from the title, now there is no contesting ownershipf. I just had the bond removed from my cuda. I dissassembled the car and repaired the floors and started body work, and collected up parts, but have not assembled the car yet. Now that the bond is removed i will start.

Now doing things this way isnt cheap. And its a bit of a pain ,but its super legal. $10 DMV search, $275 for a bond, $20 DMV for bonded title. Now $20 to get a regular title issued with bond removed.

If somebody contested it in that time period they would be getting a shell with a title. All the stuff i collected up to redo it i have reciepts for and are parts not installed so these wouldent go with the car, plus i have pictures of its condition when i got it. Basically a rolling shell.

Something like this if its not stolen , you put a bonded title on it, and if you have a place to put it as a future project just let it sit till the bond runs outout and collect up parts for it. Dont do anything to the car itself till then. If its a real pile o **** but has potential let it sit. If somebody does pop up saying its theirs let em look at it while its in a deplorable condition. Most people would say well ok its a pile o **** and walk away.

My cuda i bought from a friend. He bought it 10 years prior, and it sat , the owner had the title somewhere but couldent find it . 5 years into my friends ownership he decided maybe he should contact the seller and have him apply for a lost title. The mans widow informed my friend that he died. After that the car sat 5 more years till i bought it. I went thru the bill of sale deal with my friend, the prerequesite DMV vin search, bond for title and a 3 year wait for the bond to expire. I was told i could work on the car , sell is, even drive it while the bond is on it. I decided id just do body work on the shell and collect up parts and leave them in their boxes till the bond ran out.
 
Now doing things this way isnt cheap. And its a bit of a pain,but its super legal. $10 DMV search, $275 for a bond, $20 DMV for bonded title. Now $20 to get a regular title issued with bond removed.

If somebody contested it in that time period they would be getting a shell with a title. All the stuff i collected up to redo it i have reciepts for and are parts not installed so these wouldent go with the car, plus i have pictures of its condition when i got it. Basically a rolling shell.
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unless its some super rare car worth stupid money that is way too much trouble for me. too many good cars out there with clean titles to be bothered with all that crap..
 
No bonded titles in California. When the new title is issued, the old titles are worthless. If its not in the books as stolen and the VIN's match on the car, you can get a new title.
 
abodyjoe said:
unless its some super rare car worth stupid money that is way too much trouble for me. too many good cars out there with clean titles to be bothered with all that crap..
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Maybe so, but i was only interested in the body since it was a slant sick car. $100 for a solid West Texas car with minor rust in the quarter panels and in the spare tire well, plus the other associated expenses to get a legit title. So for $425 total i have a 67 notchback project car with a clean title. I would say in my case it was worth it. I have also seen cleaner cars with probably actual titles get parted out on this forum.
 
moparmat2000 said:
Maybe so, but i was only interested in the body since it was a slant sick car. $100 for a solid West Texas car with minor rust in the quarter panels and in the spare tire well, plus the other associated expenses to get a legit title. So for $425 total i have a 67 notchback project car with a clean title. I would say in my case it was worth it. I have also seen cleaner cars with probably actual titles get parted out on this forum.
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But you have/had to wait 3 stinking yeRs to do anything to it. Like I said. Too much BS for me. But het different strokes man.
 
abodyjoe said:
But you have/had to wait 3 stinking yeRs to do anything to it. Like I said. Too much BS for me. But het different strokes man.
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Not really, that was my choice since im a busy guy and 3 years just zipped by. I started bodywork, put subframe connectors in, new spare tire well, rounded up my rear axle, big cordoba brakes 74 k frame, and rounding up other stuff. I got a V8 i will be tearing down to redo soon, gotmy K frame redone, repainted, brakes redone, center chunk is put together. Im working on my clutch linkages, and bellhousing. Already rebuilt the steering column.

I am collecting up the parts and rebuilding all the sub assemblies which is what you have to do anyway. Then wrap these parts in plastic and set on the shelf, or in my loft. Rebuilding everything and repainting it takes time. So its not like i havent been doing anything, i have been, just not much on the shell until now.

Once the shell is done and painted, its just a matter of unwrapping everything, and start assembling.
 
Spending 100s of dollars, multiple trips to the dmv and then waiting 3 years seems FAR from easy to me. Plus in this case if you are wrong you are out the empty shell PLUS the $4500 you paid for the empty shell. I guess you could go back after that money with a lawyer...
or just buy cars with normal present titles. As somebody pointed out, if it was $500 then maybe worth it. And if California is so much easier then the seller can get it in order first if he wants that much.
 
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