The old man I bought my truck off of had a title, but the number on it was from the long gone original engine.
Therein lies the reason, I believe, why the practice of using the engine number was dropped. Everyone who's planning on putting a different engine in their vehicle, if they live in an engine number state, needs to consider the ramifications of that change. Their vehicle will no longer bear the number shown on their title. While it'll most likely not become an issue until time to sell the vehicle, it's obvious from the amount of time spent here trying to advise those having that very problem that it WILL become an issue someone will have to deal with.
