Military Vehicles, November 1996,: Re: title

Re: title

Gale Barrows (barrowsg@rapidnet.com)
Sun, 10 Nov 1996 14:55:00 -0700 (MST)

>Has anyone out there bought an old military truck with no title or any
>kind of certificate from the government? The guy i bought my Kaiser
>M-725 from apparently has no documentation on this vehicle. He says he
>got it from an auction and that he knows the auctioneer personally, but
>he seems reluctant to give me this person's name. I have a bill of sale
>for the truck so there's no problem there. I called the title office in
>Springfield, IL, where supposedly all military vehicles are registered,
>but they had no record whatsoever of my truck. Why not? The little,
>metal plates with all the stats, serial numbers, etc. on the inside of
>the driver's door and on the dash are still there. This truck has never
>been titled, registered, or driven outside of the military. Any
>suggestions on how i can get a title would be greatly appreciated. Also,
>how might i go about tracing the history of this truck?
>

I have had several vehicles titled where I had only a bill of sale. Of
course, Illinois probably has diffewring regulations than South Dakota but
there is probably enough similarity that you might be able to use my
experinces. All procedures are what I would have to do here in South Dakota.
The bill of sale must be presented, notarized if the seller was not a
licensed dealer, and a form would have to be filled out stating that the
vehicle had never to my knowledge been titled and why it had not been
titled. I might, depending on the particular clerk dealt with, also have to
bring a similar statement from the person I bought the truck from. I would
then apply for a title, pay for the license plates and walk out. As soon as
the plates were installed the vehicle could be driven. In about 10 days to 2
weeks the title would arrive. I have done 3 such vehicles in the past year.
On one occaision a new lady at the court house asked what color the vehicle
was that I was titling. The other three clerks yelled "GREEN" and broke out
laughing. Someday I am going to have to title a pink vehicle just to see
their reaction. Ordinarily, I walk out with plates and registration about 15
minutes after entering the courthouse.
Theree would be no reason for the title office to have any information on
military vehicles as they are not titled or registered with any state
agency. The numbers on the plates and/or painted on the vehicle are not used
by anybody but the military for record keeping and are not given to state or
non-military federal agancies. I have gotten info on aircraft from an Army
activity in St Louis but it is my understanding that that facility has been
shutdown. Somne section of the Army or DoD probably can still get you info
such as what units a particular vehicle has been issued to. Hopefully, there
are still some military unit markings painted on the bumper. These markings
may have been painted over but unless the markings were ground or sanded
off, you can usualy carefiully remove the over paint to the point you can
read the numbers. The same for the military registration numbers painted on
the hood.