I have bought a new car and vin not recognised

I have bought a mk1 campaign that has been off the road since at least 2002 that I know of….

I bought the car from an old guy who rebuilt it 8 years ago, but took not well before finishing the car and it never made the road….

I have no v5 or reg plates, reg is not in the windows but the vin plate is in on it, and the vin on the scuttle is readable but comes back "no trace" 

How can I find out the reg to apply for the v5?

No trace? Have you done this on a Hpi check? It may be that it has been scrapped. Do you have any paperwork at all? It might pay to check behind the dash to scuttle or under the carpet. Iirc there has been something about contacting the police to make sure its not stolen or to enquire if it is a "live" vehicle. I think there's a website "isitnicked"  One resort might be to apply for the V5 on just the chassis number and see what comes back. Although at the moment DVLA are not accepting paper transactions.

send me the reg or vin number or both