Legally Register Any Car

pishta said
Ca requires: "The last issued out-of-state registration certificate or current year renewal notice, or a letter, fax, or
wire from the last registration jurisdiction verifying the registered owners name(s) and the vehicle’s last
registration expiration date."

I'm not sure if this would be a problem on a legit farm truck or barn find unless the vehicle belongs to an estate that is in probate or something. This was my case on a farm truck I was interested in within ca that could only produce a bill of sale from a deceased "family friend" owner. I just wanted it for the straight frame and various parts ..I'd keep the cab and Vin of my truck if the frame was not vin mark matched. It would have to be a real peach for me to try this end around loop hole CF.

This little "snag" actually does not really even matter. There are ways to get around it. There are something like 9-10 forms that you need to fill out with general information and if your car has no papers or previous plates, you can just leave most of the boxes blank. And some of them require one form to be submitted before the other. So you will need to submit them all at once so there are no hiccups. So even though the website says all that, in reality MOST dmv's don't care. just fill out the forms, have your bill of sale, give them their money and they'll title and register anything with a vin.