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CSX 3000 Series / Re: A question for the SAAC Aficionado's on CSX3232
« on: April 11, 2021, 06:18:00 PM »It may even be a legal fact, that legally if you own the "title" in some way to a vehicle, that you have the car? I'd need a legal opinion on that but this potentially could be somewhat of a "thorny point" on the "Morrison 500", not to insult or accuse Brett of anything at all since he owns that California Registration. That's another subject though.I still have some titles of cars I junked in the late 60s. We'd drive around and buy junkers for $10-15 and take them direct to the scrap metal dealer for $45. Those cars no longer exist so the titles are worthless unless someone is willing to commit a felony by stamping the VIN on another car. At that time a quirk existed in CA law. If I sold a car to a junkyard I was required to give them the title (or statement as to why I didn't have it). That title went to the state and was cancelled showing the car as junked. A scrap metal dealer was not required to obtain a title. The scrap yard was paying about $20 more per car than a junkyard. Those cars were being sent as scrap metal to Japan. If I had the title to a car and someone else had possession of the car the courts would have to figure out that one.
I know of at least one case where a person borrowed money from another SAAC member and gave them the title to their 65 GT350 as collateral. Hard times continued and he sold the car with a duplicate title he got from DMV after saying he had lost the original. In DMVs eyes the original title was now worthless as it had been replaced with a new one. It's hard to say what a court would find. The seller committed fraud. The person who loaned the money did not protect their interest by filing a lien with DMV and being listed as legal owner on the title.
The registration from Morrison's car is nothing more than a Rock and Roll or Shelby collectible. It has zero value as to the ownership of the car - only the title matters. Every year CA DMV issues new registration paperwork along with your tag. If someone was able to get into the DMV archives and check they would probably find that the Morrison car was junked. One interesting point is that CA DMV closed their doors to their historical records when it was discovered that Cobras that had been junked in the 60s and 70s were turning up with fresh MSOs and being registered as original cars. The "Air Cobra" scheme only came to light when the original owner of one of the junked cars came forward. He had purchased and still had the wreckage of his 427 Cobra that he purchased new, totaled, surrendered the title to the insurance (who notified DMV car was destroyed) and then purchased the wreckage back from the insurance company. The owner of the aircar had it seized by the CHP and after all was said and done his $250,000 investment was turned into a $50,000 kit car with a CA assigned VIN. He had no recourse since it was an all cash purchase - of course with such a small circle of Cobra buyers/restorers/sellers it was easy to figure out who had access to DMV records, who had the ability to create a Cobra from a pile of tubing and aluminum sheet and who was the logical broker for the dead guys car. Yes all (rumored to be 28) air Cobras just happened to come from estates of dead people whose kids always demanded cash and to remain unknown.
When you say air Cobras (rumored 28), is that series CSX2000 only or CSX3000 only or both series Cobras?
, cheers.