box GM with Caprice headlight conversion...

[johnunit]

because you need to go through a big long process of getting proper ownership papers. It's almost like trying to buy a house when there's no deed or other paperwork.

You can do it (hotrodders and barnfind recipients often do), but it's a process that can take weeks or months and cost hundreds in some cases.

[1987cp]

You don't have vehicle titles there? Around here, title (proof of ownership) and registration (permission to drive the vehicle on the street) are completely separate things. I've actually never bought a vehicle that had a current registration. There's supposedly some trouble if you don't have a title or if you have a "salvage" title, but otherwise you just apply for a title and registration in your name and (IIRC) walk right back out with a license plate. Title fees are something like $15, and the registration is whatever it'd be if you'd owned the vehicle for years.

[johnunit]

You don't have vehicle titles there? Around here, title (proof of ownership) and registration (permission to drive the vehicle on the street) are completely separate things. I've actually never bought a vehicle that had a current registration. There's supposedly some trouble if you don't have a title or if you have a "salvage" title, but otherwise you just apply for a title and registration in your name and (IIRC) walk right back out with a license plate. Title fees are something like $15, and the registration is whatever it'd be if you'd owned the vehicle for years.

I don't know if it's different in different provinces, but here you use the ownership as registration.

When you get the car registered, you get a sticker with expiry date to put on the registration and one to put on the rear plate. If you don't have the ownership/registration card, you basically don't have anything but the VIN itself on the car itself to go by.