Production Information/Cars-Models Produced

[Hollywood]

Posing a general question that may be of common knowledge to some.....Where are production numbers obtained from?  For instance, it seems fairly common to hear that "X" amount of Coupes where produced in a particular year, or so many convertibles produced in a particular year as well. I often see in sales ads reading "1 of 17 produced in Tahoe Blue with a 429 with A/C" or " 1 of 500 produced in black with a 4 speed. ....or something similar.....Some are ultra-specific or detailed! Are these statistics readily available, and if so where do you obtain them?  Extremely curious, and I have some F My I questions concerning my '65 Coupe that I'd be interested in finding out about.......Thanks, Eric

[RobW]

Here's some info on your '65. http://www.100megsfree4.com/cadillac/cad1960/cad65.htm
Not sure where the numbers come from, but I would think from actual production figures supplied by the manufacturer. For example, I also have a 71 Ford Torino GT Convertible. I ordered a "Marti Report" from Kevin Marti of Marti Auto Works who has the actual Ford Motor Company records including the original dealer invoices.
For my Pontiac Grand Prix I got all the info from Pontiac Historical Society (PHS). You often see "PHS Documented" in Pontiac classifieds.

[Mike Josephic CLC #3877]

There are books that have been available for years that take figures as reported from
the manufacturers.

One such reference is "The Production Figure Book for U.S. Cars" by Jerry Heasley.
This gives the numbers by make, model, body style, etc.

However, it does not go into the numbers of vehicles with a particular option.
Examples such as "one of only five produced with Biscayne Red interior" or one
of only 24 made with "Pacific Ocean Blue" vinyl top, or one of just 50 with a factory
6 speed tranny.

These are just "made up" examples, but I think you get the idea.  Clubs for some
marques may have access to such information -- however, more often than not, they
are figments of a vivid imagination, especially if a seller is trying to upgrade the provenance
of his / her car.  Without definitive documentation, this info is worthless.

For most Cadillacs, such info is not available, either from the factory or our own Museum
records.  Any such record would be the rare exception.

Mike

[Hollywood]

Thanks guys for the replies....I was beginning to wonder!  Thanks Rob for your input, the link you provided was one that I'd seen before and provides some general information for that year.  As Mike stated, the information from that link may be the only true documented information that can be obtained.  His thoughts were similar to my assumptions, I believe alot of that "detailed" information is either made up or an "educated" guess at best.....Thanks again for the replies..... H'wood

[Warren Rauch]

 There is a fairly good listing of production figures by body type in CADILLAC STANDARD OF THE WORLD THE COMPLETE HISTORY by Maurice Hendry.Some of the early years are not broken down ,but by 1965 it lists each body type.1965 Calais coupe (68239) is 13,975 and 1965 De Ville coupe (68339) is 43,345.
Then you can check Ward's Annual from 1966. It will list percents of 1965 production that had several different options.The percent of each color used is sometimes listed in the following year data book or optional specifaction book. So if you want to ,you can apply this information to come up with some misleading ideas of how rare a given combination is.
The only way to know is to go thru each Factory record and compile them,as has been done on V-16 and LaSalle records.It would have been nice if the records were on a computer data base that could be searched. Warren
 

[Otto Skorzeny]

Generally speaking, The extremely detailed information on production numbers for cars with a specific collection of options are MOPARs.  That company's records are extremely detailed. Not so for GM.

Certain dealer modified custom muscle cars from GM like Yenko Camaros for example are another story. Very detailed info is available on those. Aside from 2 door/4 door/ convertible, etc. most GM makes do not have that kind of detailed production information available.

[Hollywood]

Otto',
Now that you mention it, it dawns on me....You're right, most of the really "detailed" information you see comes from the MOPARS....You seem to always see that when they are referring to the 'Cudas, etc.....Thanks, for weighing in.....H'wood

[homeonprunehill]

03-11-09
H'wood, speaking of MOPAR how come no one has steped forward and let everyone know the about the startling results of  the '53 DODGE  V8 that the transmission was tied to the engine  and both the engine and transmission had one supply of oiil.jim