I have gotten an abandoned vehicle title before on my 66 mustang here in Reno, Nevada. Every state is different though, but I'll tell my story.

I traded my old 3000gt for a 66 Mustang with no title. The original owner of the Mustang took out a loan to buy and when he paid off his loan the loan company never sent him paperwork to release the title. The car developed driveline problems and was parked and sat for 13 years unregistered.

I traded him and through a friend of mine who was familiar with the process (he was a huge help) got started on the title. The original owner gave me his original loan paperwork, paperwork from the loan company saying there was no longer a lein on the vehicle and it was paid in full. I had bill of sale from the owner as well.

I got the necessary court form and started filling them out. I had to get the VIN inspected by a police officer. Take pictures of the car and submit to the court a reason why the title was lost and why it should be issued to me. I included all the loan and bill of sale paperwork. I then paid my court fee ($200) and I waited for the judge to approve, disapprove, or request more information. He approved my application and I got my title.

From what I understand at least here in Nevada that DMV keeps records for up to eight years then it is out of the system. Meaning that when they ran the VIN they really didnt have any info of who it belonged too, so there weren't any conflicts there.

That's my story and I do have a suggestion. I would post on craigslist that you need help with a lost title. There are probably people on their that may have some state specific advise for you. I see title getter people post on CL here in Reno from time to time. Most are local guys not an actual company.

Since the title never transferred to you officially I would see if the Chicago guy can request a new title from his DMV and send it to you so at least you have that.

Reno_NVFD...i wish this was a lost title situation. I have the Illinois title (or at least i did have it until i turned it in to the Texas DMV). they will give it back to me it will just have a stamp on it stating it's branded.

The person in Chicago that i bought the car from can get a duplicate title without any issues.

I have made an offer to him that i will take a several thousand dollar loss on the car if he will take it back.

I paid $15,500 for the car plus $600 shipping. I spent another $2000 on new interior plastic parts and a few other things.

I told him $14,000 and he can have the car back. I lose about $4000 but at least the headache is gone..

I am not expecting him to say yes:(

Ya I know the situations are a little different and it definitely sucks to have title problems. Don't give up though.

Cars with title problems will take a huge hit in price. If the previous owner didnt know about the title problem before he does now and knows that if he takes it back he is stuck with it forever.

One option I did not see mentioned is to sell it as a dedicated track car. That does not solve your problem with wanting to drive a cool CYM on the road, but perhaps you could make back some of your money. And as a CYM owner myself, I hate the idea of a limited edition car being dedicated to track use.

Since you are willing to take a several thousand dollar loss on this, I think you should spend some money on an attorney for "real" legal advice. That's my advice :)

+1. its worth the phone call.

+1 on this also on top of all u would be keeping a very nice cym on the road and maybe even with a clean title

Any Luck?

I traded the car last night. I am now in the process of swapping over most of the interior from the CYM to the Red 93 i traded for last night. The person getting the CYM is going to use it to build his other CYM and either try to get some type of title for the car or turn it into a museum car or track car....

This has been a stressful month...glad it's just about over...