Well, I got the car home...in one piece even. I called ym insurance co and got temp cards printed out, then called the dmv in MN and ND. They said I would need to get a temp permit from Missouri since that was where the car was titled.
I just drove with my new title and bill of sale sitting on the seat. The lady at the dmv said I'd be fine as long as the trooper wasn't having a bad day if I did get picked up with no plates. Good tip on not using my existing plates...better to be caught with none than get caught being sneaky! lol
The car itself ran fine...the transmission even shifted all the way up fine
speedometer doesn't work, but that's at least an inexpensive fix...just the cabel needs replacement I'm guessing.
As far as the tranny shifting fine now goes...I'm going to post on the q&a section to see why that might happen. Thank you all!