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The car *should* work fine even with a stock temp thermo. My guess is that a) its probably not an OE thermo - the cheap auto parts place ones can be very hit or miss and you can get one that wo't work correctly
b) You are not bleeding the system properly with the thermo installed, and without the thermostat in the car, its bleeding ok and thus the car isn't overheat.
I would do what g6civcx suggested and test the thermo you have, if it checks out ok, reinstall it and try bleeding the system again. If you ask two different people you will probably get two different methods to bleed the coolant system, but I like to park the car on a hill, pull out the bleeder screw while filling the rad with a hose, wrap a towel around the hose and the rad opening and semi-pressurize the system. Water and air will then spray out of the bleed hole. I learned this trick from a friend that, at the time, worked for C&R radiators. We used this method when we did our radiator testing a few years ago. Once you have a nice stream of water I usually repace the bleed screw and start the car. Make sure the heater is set to full hot and let the car warm up. As the thermo opens you may need to add a bit of water/coolant. Cap it and go drive.
And like mentioned GET A REAL TEMP GAUGE as the stock one is absolutely useless.
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