I'll start the process right away with the seller on the 56 C series pickup I bought last week. Another reason I moved on buying this truck, aside from its solid condition, its a local truck and I can get a list of names back to the original owner. The original owner sold it to a local well know collector of tractors and old vehicles. That person is the father in law to the person I bought the truck from. However, in WI the sale of a vehicle requires the seller to have a valid title to transfer to a new owner, a bill of sale is not enough to allow me to take legal possession of the truck, even if it has not been registered for 20+ years.

Wisconsin DOT has a title replacement program that starts with MV2896 form to trace the previous history of known owners. Given I have a known history of previous owners of the truck that will help the process. That along with WIS DOT MN 2928 should get the process going, possibly to the point of a surety bond process to get legal ownership of the truck in my name. I assume I can't take/move the truck from the seller's property until I have that done, even if, as he says he did not get the title from his father in law before he moved it to his garage. To the WI DOT, the truck may still be titled to his FIL, and I will not have legal ownership until that is resolved. But, the WI Collector plate on the truck is still current to the WI DOT, so through contacts I have at the Sheriff's Dept I can have the plate number traced to the "owner". So far the seller has been very up front and helpful, so I'll work with him to insure no issues before I can take it.