A survivor in Germany, 1961 Pickup and a lot of questions.

[The Rocknrod]

Also, I was a licensed "vehicle verify-er" in California at one time. The people at the DMV do not always (mostly never) understand even the rule book they are supposed to work by. Many occasions I had to either get on the phone with a person at the DMV or go down there and show them in writing what they were doing incorrectly. Documentation on earlier vehicles is not their strong point. This truck's title is a California title which IMHO is the issue.
You can however request a correction to the title. Having your state or country local inspector verify what they see, the owner then requests a correction. I have done that from out of state. It was pretty quick too.