Transferring vehicle title - strange situation (sale, DMV, taxes)

[jupiter]

I'm facing an odd titling situation. Seller (Owner-2) has a bill of sale from prior owner (Owner-1), his friend. Owner-2 also has the physical title, which Owner-1 has signed. But Owner-2 never signed the title and did not transfer title to his name because he is selling vehicle for his friend, Owner-1, who left the country.

The title is a Virginia title. As it turns out, you don't need notarization to transfer title in VA, and there is no designated space on the title form for a notary stamp and signature. I called NC DMV and they said they would accept a Virginia title signed by Owner-1 (since title is in his name) and by me without notarization. Hopefully the person I see at the DMV won't give me a different story.

The other issue relates to the additional docs required to transfer title in NC - damage disclosure statement and odometer disclosure statement. Since the titled owner (Owner-1) is not around to sign these documents, should I have seller (Owner-2) sign them? Will it cause an issue when the DMV sees that the seller on these docs is not the same person who is listed as the seller on the title? Or should I ask Owner-2 to sign Owner-1's name to these docs? Then title and both disclosure statements will have the same seller. The bill of sale will of course have Owner-2's name, but the bill of sale is not required by NC DMV as far as I can tell, so that doc will serve only as my receipt.

I suppose the long way around this issue is to have Owner-2 transfer title to his name, pay whatever taxes, get his physical title document and then transfer title to me, along with signing the additional docs. But that takes a lot of time.

Any thoughts, suggestions?