Chuck is correct, the bill of sale is worthless by itself. No SF-97, no title without a fair amount of hassle in Michigan. I'm going through that right now. You have to get a LEO to fill out a form TR-54, "Vehicle Number and On-Road Equipment Inspection". Then you go to the Secretary of State for a blank Surety Bond form. Take that to your Insurance Co., they fill it out and you pay the fee, in my case $82 for a $2750 truck. Then you take the TR-54, Surety Bond and application for title back to the SOS. Give them the paperwork, pay the title fee (and sales tax, if not already paid to GL) and eventually you will get your title.
You CAN get a historical plate WITHOUT a title though. They are ordered through the mail directly from the SOS main office in Lansing. The back of the form states along with the application you have to provide "Proof of ownership, preferably a copy of the title", but does not state a title is required.
BTW, here is the link to the Michigan SOS historical plate application:
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/hplate_16252_7.pdf
In addition to the standard blue and white historical plate, Michigan will also register your vehicle using an original Michigan license plate from the model year of your vehicle. Once I figure out the year of my truck, I'm going to get an original plate to register it. '60s era Michigan license plates are going in the $5 to $25 range on Ebay, depending on the particular year and condition of the plate. Most of the plates I've looked at were in excellent shape, some were even unused and still in the original envelope.
I have to disagree with Mickey on the price of trucks on the Left Coast though. Before buying my truck, I bid on several trucks in Vermont, Georgia, Ohio and someplace else that I can't remember. They all went for $4000 and up, some over $5000. At the same time, there were 16 trucks listed at Port Hueneme in the People's Republik of Kalifornia. They sold from a low of $621 to a high of $2990. Most were in the $1850 to $2500 range.
It looks like a lot depends on how many trucks are listed at a particular site at one time. If a site has only one or two trucks, there is a lot of competition and prices are high. If the site is selling a lot of trucks at the same time, the bids get spread out and the prices are lower.
Lee