1976 Frame 1978 everything else CB550 legality?

I currently have a 78 cb550k that i bought from out of state, he did not have the title, The person he got it from clearly did not have the title. I called my California DMV and they told me i have to go back to the last person who had the bike registered to them and get them to sign it to the person i bought it from and have him sign it over to me. I havent talked to the guy since i bought the bike a few months ago and i dont know if i could even find his number much less ask him to do all that bs for me. What I am asking is what legal preventions would i have to worry about if I simply bought another frame with a title and built the bike from the ground up with all of my parts?

Well the title goes with the frame.
You wouldn't be the first person to swap everything over to a titled frame because of legal BS.

Should all be OK.

... Oh, you're in the US. Someone else wanna chime in?

if you want to send me a bill of sale and the cash to title it in michigan and i will sell it back to you for the cost of a stamp

Here in Ontario, our ownership records are computerized going back into the 1980's. To transfer ownership of a vehicle, you have to buy a Used Vehicle Information Package which details all the previous owners of the vehicle going back as far as possible.

Is this sort of info not available in California? This would at least give you the name of the last registered owner. I'm not suggesting you do this, but frankly, who's going to check to see if a bill of sale you wrote up with the last registered owners name on it is legitimate or not?

Oh, and yes, I think you'd be 100% fine if you wanted to go through the trouble of finding a frame with title and moving all the parts over. If you're planning a full frame-up rebuild anyhow, this is a convenient option to allow you to move parts over bit by bit.

Tim said:

Oh, and yes, I think you'd be 100% fine if you wanted to go through the trouble of finding a frame with title and moving all the parts over. If you're planning a full frame-up rebuild anyhow, this is a convenient option to allow you to move parts over bit by bit.

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lots of titled frames on ebay... could probably work out a deal with the person to just sell you the title and neck tag... just restamp the vin on your bike's neck... would save you the shipping cost of the whole frame

I'm in the same situation with my 78 bike in alabama. needs to be 76 or older to not need a title.

interested in any ideas people have to get titles for our old bikes