Would I have gotten screwed If I purchased this "tow lien" vehicle?

I went to buy this car that this business owner said he put on a tow lien and now owned it. When I got there I ran the vin and it came back as a total loss vehicle due to a bad accident with no info after. Also had something called a NAM which had to do with odometer discrepancy. The car ran and drove fine and was good save for some cosmetic stuff and I am familiar with this platform so I was prepared to buy one at auction to fix anyways. This guy lowered the price even more when I brought up all the issues so It would have been a steal. The problem is that I have no idea what the title of the vehicle is, im pretty sure this guy never applied for a rebuilt title after it was fixed from being wrecked, im not sure if hes the one that did the fixing or if he acquired it after etc. He said he can transfer the title to me and get me temp tags and everything at his business but Im aware that to take a car from Salvage to Rebuilt you need to go to the dmv and show them receipts and get the car inspected etc. if I bought this car and the title ended up being salvaged then I would need to show receipts of what I did to repair and I doubt he would have receipts. Would this have screwed me or is there something im not understanding between salvage/rebuilt title vehicles? Would he have been able to put it under my name and change the title status or is that something only the dmv would be able to do? Would I be able to call the dmv with the vin and see if they can tell me what the title status of the vehicle currently is?
Im no stranger to doing engine work and trans work so not afraid of the car needing work but thw title and insuring it would be what im afraid of.