Local fella on the field (Michigan) bought a drug seizure Aztec from
Texas with no logs and no information at all... The API mechanic went
through the airframe and verified the AD's...
Because the engines were totally unknown, they were torn down,
inspected, magnafluxed, etc., and then a field overhaul performed and
yellow tagged...
New logs were started with estimated total airframe and engine times
from a shop in Mexico that had worked on the plane five years before...
The FSDO inspector had inspected the work a couple of times during the
process and he formally signed off on the estimated times in the logs
as being acceptable and the FAA issued a certificate of
airworthiness... The plane flies on to this day, and is currently
hauling bank checks 5 nights a week across the North Sea in Europe...
All of this cost money, of course...

denny