So, everyone is just going to just love this.
Effective immediately, PCNA will no longer be including engine and transmission numbers on COA's for cars manufactured prior to 1979 UNLESS you can verify those numbers when you order your COA. In other words, if you don't already know your engine and transmission numbers, Porsche is not going to tell you. From their email to me:
Please be aware that for security reasons, Porsche Cars North America now requires you to provide the original engine/transmission number for classic vehicles (1979 & older) in order to list the engine/transmission number on the Certificate of Authenticity. If you are not able to provide the original engine/transmission number, the Certificate of Authenticity will list 'Not Confirmed' for the engine/transmission numbers.
If we do not hear from you to cancel the order or provide the original engine/transmission number then we will proceed to list 'Not Confirmed' in 5 business days.
Some of you may know Sara over there. I spoke with her at length a couple days ago and wasn't shy about sharing my opinion of this decision. She told me that this had been in the works for some time and that it was a decision made by their legal team "due to the value of classic vehicles" and that they "do not wish to provide information that may lead to any misrepresentation of a vehicle in the future."
Obviously, the lawyers at PCA have WAY too much time on their hands if this is what they're sitting around talking about. The idea that they're incurring some sort of liability by providing these numbers should someone then re-stamp an engine case and sell a car as original, well, that's a fine example of over-cautious lawyering at it's worst.
In the meantime, those of us restoring cars and using the Porsche data to reunite cars with their original drivetrains, we're screwed.
Sara did tell me that there had been much internal discussion regarding this change and I got the distinct impression that not everyone at PCNA was loving this decision. Sara offered to share my concerns with the higher-ups and I'm in the process of writing a letter. I also told Sara that there were others who were also likely to disagree and who might want to share their thoughts. If that's you, you can write to Sara at coa@porsche.us. Be nice. She's a very nice person.