Extrapolation!?!
Here's my feable attempt at this but first I will give you an excerpt from the Corvette Black Book by Michael Antonick. His explanation, though long, is one of the best I've ever run across. He explains how someone (ProTeam is famous for this) comes up with numbers like a car that is 1 of 12, or 1 of 400. The actual raw data does not know nor will it ever exist. As much as we might wish, auto makers just didn't feel the need to maintain such a huge cross reference of every option combination someone could have possibly concocted when ordering a vehicle. IMHO this falls under the 'buyer beware' category as these numbers, though based loosely on fact, are pure conjecture.
Michael explains extrapolation as such:
"Extrapolation? A dictionary definition is to project known data or experience into an area not known or experienced so as to arrive at a conjectural kknowledge of the unknown area. Said another way, it means using what you know to guess what you don't."
I'll paraphrase the rest using the 71 LT-1 question to explain. The Black Book states (as Bud explained previously) that of the 21,801 Corvettes built in 1971, 14,680 were coupes which comes out to roughly 67%. It states also that 1,949 of the total production were LT-1 optioned cars. Using extrapolation, one can take 67% of 1,949 and say that 1,312 LT-1 optioned cars were coupes and 637 were convertibles. This would, conceivably, make a '71 LT-1 coupe 1 of a mere 1,312 built. You could take it a step further and say that if the car was Nevada Silver (total production count of 1,177 = @5%) then it is 1 of 65. The extrapolation could go on and on down to the very last option on a build sheet, diciding further and further as you go.
This method is, however, riddled with holes. One could say that the example used above is no good because LT-1's were the top dog small block and more than average were coupes for the added stability. Someone could just as easily argue the oposite since I recall seeing John Greenwood running around in more than one hard top convertibles.
Bud's answer is the most acurate that can be given on such a topic. As I stated previoulsy, the rest is nothing more than pure conjecture and, more often than not, bragging and sales hype meant to inflate a price beyond a car's true market value.
If you don't mind, I'll step down off of my soap box and take my trusty black book with me because my fingers are sore.
Barb - give me five then check your PM inbox.
