They must play by different rules there...here if they get caught with ANY car that they don't have a title to, it's automatically assumed stolen until proven otherwise...handled by the State Patrol here...occaisionally they will buy one with a missing title if it's going in the crusher THAT DAY...they sure as hell wouldn't try to sell it...
I assume the one you are looking at was abandoned or illegally parked, whatever...in that case the company that impounded it can apply to put a lien against the title for money owed for towing and storage, and if not paid the car's title can be tranferred to them as compnsation after a period of time (I'm not sure how long, and it doesn't matter, your state is obviously different)
So if it was here, they (the impound yard/salvage yard) would have to accquire the title through a lien process, then transfer it to you...there is also a lost/abandonment title process here, I'm not familiar with it, but it allows you to apply for a title against an abandoned vehicle after reasonable effort has been made to locate the registered owner and a certain amount of time has passed afterwards...I'd have to read up on how it works exactly..
I know some states are very different about title process, like I was talking to friend in Vermont recently, and found out that the state doesn't even issue a title on vehicles over ten years old...apparently they don't care where it came from, as long as the plates and registration are current...weird. I didn't belive him so I looked up the VT DMV on line, he wasn't kidding....