Look I feel that all of this is all probably quite legit. It's just that Ryan has posted (stickied) a request that we don't do 'lost or historical titles' here.
The shonks, nere-do-wells, thieves and anyone else you care to name, make the trafficking in stolen and 'Lost Cars' easier if good folks like us accept these requests (or stories). We should not be advising anyone how to obtain titles, especially overseas.
We (car guys) in Australia are going thru a very painful process at the moment due to our government acting on information from the US Government, as well as our own investigations (and concerns about vehicle safety regarding rebuilt and customised cars and Hot-Rods). Basically we have become aware that stolen and rebirthed cars have been exported here with Titles obtained from so called legitimate dealers, or guys who sell titles privately as 'Historical Documents" but which in fact are anything but. These firms and individuals operate in a 'grey zone' and both our governments are no longer sure that what they provide as prove of legitimate ownership, is or can be proven when put to the test.
In short stolen cars are being exported with dubious documentation. Please don't confound some poor guys pain at having his 'Pride and Joy' stolen only to see it resurface on someones facebook page a few months later 10,000 miles away and across too much ocean to ever get it back.
For overseas buyers I suggest you will save yourselves a lot of trouble and anxiety with your local vehicle registration authorities if you only purchase vehicles with a title in the name of the seller.
Of course no system is perfect, and shonky guys will always find a way to subvert any system designed to protect peoples property and their rights to that property, but why should we be complicit in their schemes? Why should we make it easier for them to rob us and people like us who have either invested money and time in the devotion and regard for our cars, or perhaps we have inhertited a car from a loved one, only to have it stolen, retitled with a 'Historical Document' or have a new 'Title' created out of thin air, air-borne of a legitimacy that can only rely on the probablity the car was not stolen before the public records were destroyed or lost.
Fonti's problem as I see it, and I surmise his registration authority also has this problem which is; basically fonti has bought a collection or an assortment of used car parts which has been assembled into a chassis. The question then arises, at what point does this collection of parts become a car? Fonti is now being asked to provide proof he has enough of a collection of parts to constitute a car. And the question that now arises is this: Having bought a collection of parts into his country, can he assure the authorites they parts have been acquired legitimately? The future may bring a body to this chassis and then that may become a new car, but what is the status now?
I imagine from a thief's perspective it would be a simple matter to separate the body off the chassis of a stolen car, sell the 'running gear' overseas as basically a rolling chassis (spare parts) and to then the sell the body seperately somewhere else, and never the twain shall meet.
Who in the Customs Department would know that the Ford I.D. is on the chassis and not attached to the body via a plate with a VIN #? That chassis and it's assortment of parts went straight thru to the keeper, no questions asked. If it was known that Ford I.D's are stamped on the chassis and not the body, I doubt the chassis would have been able to have been exported without a Title.
My view is we should treat 'fonti's' (total # posts 14 including this one) request with a degree of caution.
