[78chev]

I never "registered" the truck. I simply transferred the title and thus ownership.
In CA. you have to jump through a lot of hoops to register a vehicle in order to make it street legal, so, since it was a project truck I just transferred the title w/a vehicle/vessel transfer and registration form. When you do that they don't care about the the tags or license plate, they only run the VIN. to make sure that it's not stolen.
It got towed because I took it out of my garage so that I could move my car in & wash it. I left the truck on the street & drove my car to work the next day & when I got home it had been towed.
I'm not gonna go after the guy b/c as someone already said, he is a poor POS and I wouldn't get anything.
I'm just trying to decide if I want to pay to get it back.
I'll find out on Monday what the cost will be and I'll let y'all know what I do.
Thanks to everyone for the advice.