This can be a horribly frustrating exercise. I was looking at a 1948 Ford Pickup on craigslist in Tucson. They said it didn't have a title but had the registration. I talked to our licensing lady by our house. She said to be very careful and mentioned I could talk to the company that insured my Falcon.
I called them, and they recommended not getting involved with a vehicle without the title. She told me that a couple of years before a guy in California bought a 32 ford hot rod without the title and wanted it insured.
They wouldn't insure it until they did a title search and found the owner in Georgia year later. He said the car had been stolen a few years before out of his barn. He wanted the car back.
Problem is, the guy in California spent $40,000 on the car and didn't want to give it up.
They finally worked out a plan where the guy in California kept the car and paid the guy in Georgia $5,000 for the car.
After that, I decided to only look at vehicles with titles.
I did run into the same thing with a 49 ford truck in Kansas where the owner told me they didn't keep titles for that age vehicle.
I was told by the licensing agent they would do a search and try to get a title transfer, but it usually took at least a year. I wasn't wanting to wait that long to start the project. The truck owner wasn't going to wait either, so walked away.
I am sure it can be done, just be careful. Larry