My buddy is interested in a 58 Edsel 4 door for sale. Paint and bodywork have been done, interior and motor have not. Here's the twist... This car was at a autobody shop and was never paid off. It sat there for a few years before, durring that time the trunk lid, hood, heads, intake, carb and guage cluster where taken off and sold?? Then it was sold to the guy who has it now. The car has no title and only being sold with a bill of sale. My buddy would like to finish the restoration and get it on the road, will there be a problem getting the title? He already has a 2dr hard top (w/ title) that needs a lot of work and thinking of using the 2dr as a parts car.... or using the 4dr as a parts car (more work involved). Any advice or ideas will be appreciated.
When a shop keeps a car that hasn't been paid for, they have a certain amount of time before they can do a lien sale on it, which if they went through all the right channels to do , they should have attained a pink for the car. Sounds a little shady to me.
you said the paint and bodywork have been done to it...but it doesnt have a hood or trunk lid now, so your going to have to redo it anyway... Im not 100% sure, but i dont think it should be a problem getting a title..i heard that there are companys that do stuff like that, but im not sure, try searching google for a company that gives titles or registers cars or something i cant remember the names of any
Does he have the title for the hardtop? If so, the answer is obvious. I always considered 4-doors parts cars anyway.
Go ahead and get it. Then in a year post "How do I get a title for a hot car" If not at least have the guy selling it get title.
Yes he has a title for the 2dr. We originally went to go look at it as a parts car, but it's almost too nice to part out and chop up.
I called the guy and he called me back and gave me the vin number, guess we'll see how that part goes. I also got the name and number of the body shop also.
you need to goto the bodyshop and ask them if they put a mechanics lein on the car,if not you probably won't have too much hassle, if there's a lein on it,stay away.
I got a hold of the body shop that had it. There is no lean on the title. They had it sitting in their lot for 2 years. Think he said the owner was Canadian (seems odd down here) and could never get a hold of him once the work they did was done. They never got a title, just bill of sale to the current owner. Called the shop back for the previous owner info. The owner lives in Canada and was down here for a job 3 years ago. Since then he no longer has the information on the guy.
it still seems a bit shady... try to contact the previous owner... look it up on carfax or whatever... since you have the VIN
I bought my chevy from a shop that had a mechanics lien. I tried contacting the owner, but he wanted ridiculous money and he still owed the shop a lot. I ended up just getting it from the shop for $700. they just wanted it out of their yard and to be done with it after like 3 years! Once I had the lien papers it was not a big deal... You are thinking of buying it and building/registering it? If there is already a lien, it might not even be worth all the hassle for a 4 door edsel.
At most the car's worth whatever the brightwork would bring on the open market, plus scrap value for the hulk. Definitely a parts car.
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