I agree with Alan F's calculations. For the past couple of years, I've been working on a poster that will show detailed production totals for all the '68-'72 Chevrolet A-bodies. Where there are holes in the data, I have been using simple statistical interpolation to generate *unbiased* estimates.
One of the things that got me started on this was the ever-lower totals being quoted for the LS6 convertible and El Camino. I've heard numbers as low as 10 convertibles and 20 El Caminos. I don't buy that for a second. There were at least 4,475 total LS6 vehicles. That is known. So I'm supposed to believe that there were 10 convertibles, 20 El Caminos, and 4,445 coupes !? No way was it that lopsided.
Ater applying my statistics I came up with about 95 convertibles and about 500 El Caminos. Now that sounds like a lot of LS6 El Caminos. Who would have wanted such a car ? Could that many have been sold ?
Well, I would have wanted one and yes, I think that many could have been sold. The same question could be asked about the '68s. Who would have wanted a '68 SS-396 El Camino ? In '68 the exact totals for the SS El Camino are known. Apparently a lot of people wanted a '68 SS-396 El Camino since 8.25% (5,190) of all SS A-bodies sold in '68 were El Caminos.
Note that 8.25% of 4,475 is about 370. So an estimate of 500 may be a little high. But then again, there were no less than 3 genuine LS6 El Caminos running around my rather small home town in the 1980s.
PS: The poster is getting very close to completion. I've been talking to some printers recently. Look for the poster at this site in a couple months.
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Dan Carr
[email protected]
Team Chevelle Gold Member #11, ACES #701
Author of the GMC Sprint, El Camino, and '68-'72 SS Authentication pages.
See my GM A-body fleet at:
www.rmi.net/~dcarr/cars/cars.HTM
[This message has been edited by dcarr (edited 01-11-2000).]