talked to seller. No title in hand just has the last registration card from 1978 in his grandfathers name. needs engine parts.
they will have purged the car from the computer at dmv if it's been unregistered/licensed that long. I ran across this exact scenario on a cali El Camino SS and ended up having to go the bonded title route
Seller seems lazy to track down title. I have done the bonded title route and have used liens to get a title before.