If you drive it on the road, it needs to be licensed and to get the license you have to have a title. If Paul, Paul Jr and Michael build a chopper for the road they still have to get it titled. In Idaho, a special dude comes around and if it is homemade/shopmade, he will assign and affix a vin number and tag. (with a fee of course). If a title is lost on a manufactured vehicle, he also will inspect it and a provisional license will be issued and after a certain period of time, if no protests, a permanent title will be issued.
Grandson showed up last month with a 75 chevy shortbox that he traded for a big speaker. Another kid who had bought it from another kid etc thought the motor was seized. Grandson pulled the plugs, shot wd40 in, let sit then put a big wrench on the crank and loosened it up. Truck purrs like a kitten now. Title is long gone because the old truck was supposed to be junk years ago. Grandson tracked back to the last kid to have a title, got a bill of sale and we are meeting with the state inspector today to get the temp title. Had to go through the same procedure a few years ago for an old camp trailer that was out in someones weed patch.
And yes, we are a bunch of rednecks now with all the junk the kid has hauled in.