This is regarding my 69SS. There is a guy (some of you may know him, so please dont tell him about my complaining jsut yet..youll see why) that runs a chevelle restoration shop near me and has 20-30 chevelle project cars. about 3 years ago i found him, bought my 68SS from him and made payments to him. Once i payed him off he gave me the title. Ive dealt with this guy ever since then and have had good deals form him (hes a little 'shady' but most car guys i know are!). in July of 2004 i bought a 69SS project from him for $2000 and made payments also. When i went to get the title from him in mid 2005 after i had payed him off, he didnt have it. So he said he needed to file a lost title...he was the seller, so i figured thats what he had to do. By this time I had a lot of time and money into the 69...so no turning back. I waited for a while and every month or two i would call him and ask him about the title. He would always give me some excuse and use big words that i didnt understand.

Fast foward to 5 months ago. I tell him i NEED the title so i can get it registered, insured and just IN MY NAME! because its MY car, right? So he tells me hes going to get the title at the DMV (hes had the car for 15 years or so and the last time it was registered was '87). I call him a week later and he says he took care of it and it would be about 4 weeks before i got it. So i call him 5 weeks later and assume he has it...NOPE. He tells me that he applied for another title while he was there for a truck he as (he gets cars and trucks all the time). 4 weeks later, still no title..and still some excuse how they are "just slow". another chunk of weeks fly by and STILL nothing. I have had it by now (still another excuse from him).

I decide to see what i can do WITHOUT him. I go to the DMV and WA state tells me the title is on "microfilm" in OR.. no problem, thats just a few miles from me. I go to the DMV and talk to them about it. They say i need to fill out this form and that form and a bill of sale (which i have, well, its a written aggreement with his signature and all the payments i made to him for the amount of $200 each payment). I tell them about this guy giving me a run around for months and they say I can probably work around him, i just have to fill out some more stuff (explaining how i got the car, all checks i gave him, parts reciepts, written aggreement, etc..) and that there would be no problem getting the title since it hasnt be reported stolen and it has been "purged", meaning it hasn't been registered since 1987 (it also doesnt even need to be inspected is what they tell me). I just have to fill out the paperwork they gave me which i have already done.

When I'm leaving I ask them if ANYONE has requested a title or ANYTHING for this car. They say "NO"! Can you believe that?!?!?
I plan on b1tching this guy out as soon as i am sure i need nothing more from him (i might need him to write a description about how he got the car. He has mentioned that he bought it at a "u-haul lean sale/autction" or something like that and it just didnt have a title with it because it was forfeited or seized...something like that)

So, do i have a reason to be PO'ed at this guy? Anyone know what a "uhaul lean sale" is? ANY advice?

Common for dealers to buy lien sale vehicles. I bought mine that way...Small time muscle car dealer got mine from a tow yard auction.

All you need is a bill of sale to register it, DMV will issue you a pink. Dont even bother with this guy, as long as the VINS match you are golden.



Oh, on the Uhaul lien sale...Someone not paying their storage gets a lien put on its contents. Thus a lien sale. I store a van in a facility, if its late they send out a pre lien notice. Just a little heads up to ease your worry.

I'd make sure you get the title in your name before ragging on the guy, especially in a public forum. You said you knew the guy was shady. When you play with snakes you eventually get bit.

a few guys on here have had good luckj with him. I just always felt he was shady, but he always pulls through. And hes a nice guy, just a terrible business man...hes working on a car for Bruce Willis right now, and there was a 70 convertible LS6 on ebay a while back that he did. But with the average guy lkike me, im just on the back burner..like im a waste of his time. He sure didnt waste any time cashing checks that i wrote him!

Don't forget in alot of states mine included you have to pay for .......hmmm.......all the past tags grunt! back to 1987.!

If the car hasnt been registerd in 7 years (includes filing non ops, etc) doesnt the vehicle fall out of the system, meaning you dont pay all the back fees, only title transfer and tax? Something I heard, dont know how accurate that is.

Nope you have to pay to bring it current.
My wife works at a bank and she she this all the time.
Check with your state you may get lucky, you can get a salvage title and that word is stamped across the whole title.
Heck you think thats bad when I moved to La from Miss I had to pay sales tax on all my cars even my 69 I had owned for 25 years at that time. Talking about MAD!

Over here, it's 5 years to drop off the screens at the DMV. After that, you start with a clean slate. The downside is, if you don't have a title, you're not going to get one. A lost title spells death for your car here. I have mine for the El Camino stored away safely, along with pics of the car with the old license plates. While they do have the info stored on microfiche, they don't have a system set up to retrieve that info for you. There was a guy doing side work, researching lost titles for a fee. My friend knew the guy. But he changed departments, doesn't have access anymore.

The DMV knows everything i do and said there wouldnt be a problem getting a title. If i own the car why couldnt i get a title? She also said nothing about having to pay reg. for all the past years since it was registered last.. And i diidnt have to on my 68..

I wouldn't burn this bridge just yet. Sounds like he's otherwise taken car of you, and is willing to sell for reasonable prices.

Next time you go in, tell him you took care of it, had to do a little running around, and wasn't happy, but it's done now. Be nice about it. He may even try to make it up to you.

Its just possible he didn't put the effort into it you did and did not know the title was purged or what he had to do get it. He prob didn't want to tell you
he didn't know how to get the title. Just playing devils advocate here.
Anyway it sounds to goofy to be deliberate. Try and find out before you jump
on his arse with both feet. Agrivating yes, but, it sounds like it will turn out ok. Chaulk it up to lesson learned with this guy and be on your guard next time. In other words, ask to see the title before you make any payments.

I recently sold a 57 Hard Top to which I had the title. A fellow made me a very lowball offer. I said no and I told him the price again was ??? he offered me a little more, but was trying to buy it for pennies on the dollar of the value. He just kept on and I finally said ok I will take your offer, but I keep the title since you think it is not worth anything and then when you have spent about $40k restoring it I will come and get my car. He paid my price and is glad I told him the difference between having and not having the title..Alot of restored vehicles out there right now that each time it is seen, it just may be the guy that is holding the title sees it and there goes you car under the law in my state.(Georgia) Also there are alot of vin plates sold on eBay and if you buy one thinking you will protect the car by changing it then WRONG, the vin seller will probably have the paperwork to get the car as he will have your name, address and phone number already. Big scammers produce little scammers that grow up.

Besides if you got a real SS worth restoring for $2000 he gave you a real deal like it is.
Sounds like a good connection to me.