Not that my Arizona experience is applicable to Colorado, but when we titled my rock crawler, we had pictures and took them to the inspection station. The nimrod clerk was a poster child for dumb so we "had a technical question" and needed to speak to the inspection technician. They were super nice guys, we showed pictures of the vehicle and one of them was a hot rodder.....he asked several hot rod type questions (out of interest) and then told us how to legally get the title and registration. Asking for help really worked. Finding the right person to ask was the key. From all the forums, it apears that the lazy car owner guy simply calls the DMV and gets an equally lazy clerk on the line. The clerk has zero interest in helping (if they had the ability, which they dont). They spout some stuff and the caller is lost. Driving around with a questionable registration might work for years, but when you get stopped, your car will probably go bye-bye on a hook to an impound lot. Then, the cost and effort will make you wish you had done it right in the beginning.