[mr48chev]

Too many guys want to cheat the system and that can bite you in the butt in the long run.
I've never been anal about my built out in the garage cars having a title that doesn't say assembled or having a bonded title but some guys go nuts trying to keep that off their titles or don't want to jump through the hoops to get it done.
As Tommy69/454 said, the truck may have changed hands and shuffled between states several times before this was discovered.

I have a friend who deals in high end sports cars and he doesn't like to handle cars that come out of certain states as they seem to be clearing houses for stolen or wrecked and rebuilt cars that end up with clear unblemished titles.

Some states make it near impossible to find out if the rig is clear and unblemished or stolen before you ever start working on it though.
It would be a lot easier on everyone if the states had a "title/vin research for a fee" thing going where you paid X dollars for the state to research the vin and title and when the results came back clear you would get a statement that the vin was clear of any issues when you took it in for inspection. No bogus title from a title company in far off _____________ and you would get a year of mfg title.

I have a 51 Chevy 1-1/2 ton with a clear Oregon title but the title used the engine number as the vin. The truck still has the old plates and they match the title so I am going to transfer the title and then go in and get an engine change title when I get it running and driving.

The fair deal in the case of that F-100 would be for the guy holding the title to sell it back to the people who had it and poured a ton of money into it either by building or buying it for what it was actually worth when it was stolen. To me he is just as guilty now by keeping a vehicle that an unknowing person has put a lot of love and money in as the guy who stole it from him. Not bad though, have a 700 dollar truck stolen then and get back a 20,000 truck now.