Colors, Motors. and Options

[Joseph S.]

I see Corvette and other performance car owners, auction houses, dealers, etc. continually advertise cars that are one of XX (number) in XXX (color) with an XX motor and XXX (some option). Does anyone know how they obtain this information and how accurate it may be?

Obviously the more variables you add the smaller the number. Specific exclusivity seems to command higher value

Joe

[Owen L.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

I see Corvette and other performance car owners, auction houses, dealers, etc. continually advertise cars that are one of XX (number) in XXX (color) with an XX motor and XXX (some option). Does anyone know how they obtain this information and how accurate it may be?

Obviously the more variables you add the smaller the number. Specific exclusivity seems to command higher value

Joe

You can only apply the production numbers singly with any accuracy. The problem of calculating the declining production numbers often yields a car that shouldn't exist. For example, my low-optioned '67 appears as a 1 of 1 with that option set (0.006% or about 0.138 of all '67s produced — that's not even an entire car!). My highly optioned '72 has half of that at .0003% or about 0.081 '72s produced; again, not an entire car, which is entirely impossible.

(from the Corvette C2 & C3 registries)
Screenshot 2024-02-15 at 7.22.16 PM.jpg
Screenshot 2024-02-15 at 7.26.57 PM.jpg

The only thing that makes sense is to say my '67 is one of 8,504 coupes; or one of 6,558 with tinted windshield — the most "rare" would be the Elkhart Blue paint makes it one of 1,096. The combined options indeed make it more unique, but running diminishing production numbers won't work because buyer trends of the time will not appear in the results. Perhaps buyers liked Elkhart with whitewalls and tinted windshield over other colors with those options. In other words, the options sold were not equally distributed across the entire list.

[Michael J.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

I agree, the process of extrapolation of options just doesn't work. Now, if you have a car where only 2 with that option were made, and the other one has a different color/option package, you do have a one of one. So it depends.

[Duke W.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Most claims of "rarity" are sales hype and can't be substantiated. Just because a car is claimed to be rare due to the option combination doesn't mean it's desirable.

How about a '63 Corvette convertible white/black, hardtop only with NO options? That gets you a three speed transmission with a non-synchromesh first gear behind a 327/250 and no radio. I don't know if such was ever built, but if so I doubt there are many, if any.

Another example would be an interior color override like green with a red interior. Rare? Likely, but probably not desirable for most tastes.

The examples in post #2 illustrate how to calculate a probability for an option combination and multiplying this by total production yields a theoretical number built, but note that exterior and interior color frequencies are NOT included in the calculations. We have most exterior color production data, but I'm not aware that we have interior trim colors production data, so bottom line probability in the above examples could be an order of magnitude smaller.

In fact, if you calculated the number of unique combinations of models, colors, and options, the number would likely exceed production by at least a couple of orders magnitude.

Buy a car you like or can at least accept if it's not your ideal, and ignore the sales hype.

Duke

[Paul H.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Most of these sellers are talking out their a$$, embellishing with the sole purpose of making their car seem more valuable than it really is. It's actually comical to read some of them.

[Rocco S.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Another way to look at production numbers, especially for 1967, is to look at Nolan Adams C2 book. In the 1967 section there are tables of option combinations by ECL letters. My 67 coupe with K66 (TI) with L79, C60 Air Conditioning and U69 radio has an ECL letter "CC". This "CC" shows up on the tank sticker. Production of only 65 units. This is totally independent of exterior color. I don't know where Mr. Adams' data came from. Can anyone comment on this info?

1967 Production Numbers by ECL and Options.jpgTank Sticker 3.jpg

[Mark F.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Another way to look at production numbers, especially for 1967, is to look at Nolan Adams C2 book. In the 1967 section there are tables of option combinations by ECL letters. My 67 coupe with K66 (TI) with L79, C60 Air Conditioning and U69 radio has an ECL letter "CC". This "CC" shows up on the tank sticker. Production of only 65 units. This is totally independent of exterior color. I don't know where Mr. Adams' data came from. Can anyone comment on this info?

Hi Rocco,

The attached pdf provides 5 pages of data from Noland Adams and other Chevrolet data for 1967 Corvettes. I produced this a long time ago for reasons that I don’t recall ☹, but I think it proves some of the points being made in this thread.

It also points to individual RPO-ECL combinations that were produced in low numbers like yours (and very high numbers). The image below lists the RPO-ECL combinations that were part of cars produced at less than 100 units.

Assuming all the data I have looked at is correct, and as Duke said - if you add up all of the combinations possible, you get 231,514 units (obviously impossible) – slightly over 10 times the real number of units produced in 1967.

That happens because you can’t reconstruct a car with the multiple individual options assuming yours is the only one.
Noland and Production Trends 1967 RPO-ECL Counts less than 100 Units Produced.jpg

Noland and Production Trends 1967 RPO-ECL Counts by RPO.pdf

[Rocco S.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Mark,

Thanks for posting the entire 1967 chart. There were quite a few units with very low numbers. I feel good my car is on the list. My car is also Lynndale Blue which was only about 12% of production.

[Mark F.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Mark, Thanks for posting the entire 1967 chart. There were quite a few units with very low numbers. I feel good my car is on the list. My car is also Lynndale Blue which was only about 12% of production.

Rocco,

You're welcome...I find crunching numbers like these fascinating.

So, I think you would agree that we can't know what the exterior color distribution was for the option combination you have on your car (K66; L79; C60; U69). 99% chance they all weren't Lynndales, right ?

But even if we assume an even split over the 10 colors available in 1967 (excluding the 10 in Primer), yours would be 1 of 6.5 (impossible, I know), right ?

Add the complication of available Interior combinations w/ '67 Lynndale (Black; Teal; and 455 B&W) and you could speculate the "1- of-thingy" is even less, right ?

Problem is - it's all speculation because the data isn't there. It isn't there because GM didn't care (or want to pay to generate it) other than producing cars correctly with the ECLs (and reasoning behind them) they had defined.

Anyhow, sounds like you have a very nice car - independent of its' "1-of-X thingy" numeric - whatever that really was

[Rocco S.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Mark,

Thanks for your thoughts and agree with everything you say. But I do feel confident that my car is 1 of 65.

Rocco

[Mark F.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Mark, Thanks for your thoughts and agree with everything you say. But I do feel confident that my car is 1 of 65. Rocco

Rocco,

Based on the numbers I see, I can't imagine it's not 1 of something less than 65 ! which is pretty cool even though we can't quantify it

[Joseph S.]

Re: Colors, Motors. and Options

Thanks for the comments. It just serves to substantiate what I thought.
My question came from a car I am working on, which, if you take model production numbers (actual) multiply by % made in that color that year (assumption) and since that color came with only two interior configurations multiply by 50% (assumption) you come out in the low 30's for a production number. A good bit assumption.
Joe