Title issues on a 65

[Scrub]

Long story short, I agreed to do body and paint on a 55 Crown Vic in exchange for a 65 Bird in partial restoration.
20 months later, I delivered his car and picked up mine. "Title and all paperwork was in the glovebox" but the car was already on the rollback and it was about 11 pm. Got it home after 1am, offloaded and parked.
Next morning I get the paperwork out and its got all the original NY registration and a paperwork trail that stops with the car being sold in 2004, but no purchaser listed.
Due to many issues I found with 24 hours of getting the Bird, (I called him and raised heck and basically called him everything but a man, lol) I cant get a bill of sale or anything from the guy I got it from.
HELP...!

[Joe Johnston]

Every state has different laws in dealing with title transfers and lost titles. You will have to check with your states dept of motor vehicles for the applicable laws and procedure. Info should be online at your state's website.

[paul2748]

Is there a place on the back for a transfer? Did the seller sign it? If the person who sold the car to the man you purchased it from signed the registration, it looks like the person you bought it from never registered it in his name. All you have to do is write in your name as the buyer and everything should be ok. Part and parcel of this registration/title thing was that the license plates always stayed with the car if the buyer was instate.

In NY, the registration was also the title up to I don't know when (I live in NJ) . In 65 this may have been true so the registration may be your title. Check with your motor vehicle department to see if they accept the registration as the title.

Get the title situation sorted out before you start sinking additional funds in the car. I know of people that sunk a bundle into a car only to find out they couldn't get a title in their state because of poor paper work.

If the title/registration things applies to the car your bought, you owe the seller an apology.

I