Having briefly lived in TX it got my curiosity up regarding new titles. Their laws are pretty weak regarding VIN verifications, basically you just need an individual and/or inspection station to say the car's legit & you're good to go. They do tell you it's a felony to falsify the info but that won't stop a crook. There's no instructions regarding where the VIN on the car should be, heck you could pencil it in on the fender & probably be OK legally. Regarding tracing back the ownership history of the car, house money says at some point you run into Sgt. Schultz (I know NOOOOTHING).