[1ntCobra]

How about another wild speculation that would fit into the paper work:

Paul pays Ann for the car around August 1963.

After Ann pays off the car at the bank with the proceeds from the sale, she gets the title from the bank. Perhaps the bank mails Ann the title a few days later after she pays off the loan.

Ann tries to give the title to Paul, but has a tough time getting a hold of him. Or maybe she eventually gets the title to Paul. When I have sold bought or sold a car in PA, I go to a tags place and the buyer and seller both sign the title with a notary as a witness and the title is sent to the DMV. Unless the signed title is sent into the state of California, they will not have a record that Paul is the new owner. So Paul may not be in a hurry or may not be concerned about getting the title paperwork done because the car is not going to be driven on the street. Also he is not worried about getting the car registered to drive on the street. If he is a busy person and he needs to meet Ann at a notary to sign over the title and the 2 of them just never get around to signing over the title, then as far as California is concerned Ann is still the title holder.

The car is wrecked in November of 1963 and goes to SAI to investigate.

Near the end of the 1963 year, Ann receives the application to renew the registration for CSX2049 for 1964 because California has no idea she sold the car. She does not send in the registration renewal application, but also for some reason does not throw it out. She may or may not still have the title in hand, the Cunningham family may have the title in their possession, but it has not been signed, notarized and sent to California.

The SAI comptroller wants to get rid of the wreck for months. He contacts the DMV on or before April 1964. The DMV reports that the title is still in Ann's name and she paid it off in August of 1963. SAI keeps bugging Ann to come back and pick up the wreck. Ann says she sold the car to Paul, but SAI wants to dot their i's and cross their t's and gets a lawyer to proceed with a mechanics lien so they can dispose of it since Ann does not want the wreck of the car she sold to Paul.

Perhaps the mechanics lien goes through and the car goes to the junkyard. Hasselrig finds out about the car in the junkyard and buys it from the junkyard. But then there is no need to get paperwork from Ann because the mechanics lien would have moved the title to SAI and then to the junkyard. Or maybe he gets the car from the junkyard without a title, figures out Ann was the prior owner, contacts her and she goes through her paperwork and finds that she still has the application to renew the registration for 1964 and sells that piece of paper to Hasselrig which he somehow uses to get a title.

Or maybe after SAI bugs Ann enough about picking up the wreck, she finally picks it up with the intention of giving it to the Cunningham family. But Paul's widow is distraught and does not want to accept the wreck from Ann. After a while Ann can't even figure out how to contact the Cunningham family because they moved out of the state. At some point Hasselrig hears about the wreck in Ann's possession in her yard or garage. He gets a hold of Ann who has no idea of how to contact the Cunningham family anymore, but she still is the title holder per the DMV records. If the unsigned title was in the possession of the Cunningham family, but was lost during the move, Ann could probably get a duplicate title from the DMV. And for whatever reason, she never did throw out the 1964 registation renewal application, she can give that to Hasselrig too. So maybe in 1967 after getting tired of the wreck sitting in her yard or garage, and having no idea how to get a hold of the Cunningham family, Ann the title holder on record with the DMV, sells the wreck to Hasselrig.

Anyway, that could explain why a search of the DMV records would show Ann as the first owner and Hasselrig as the second owner. Because there was no DMV record of Paul being the title holder or of Paul registering the car.

And for whatever reason, Ann kept the registration renewal application for 1964. Considering that he son orignally had it as a street car, it would make sense to have a registration with a license plate number on it.