Score !!
Good negotiating. I have found the easiest way to get a title on a vehicle that has been sitting and the records have been purged by DMV is to file for an abandoned vehicle title. There a a few minor hoops to jump through, but nothing major. Going to a small tag office on a slow day is key.
Example here:
http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/prose/...hicletrans.pdf