How many of your car exist today?

Rare autos with a following often have a registry. That tells you how many still survive in the hands of collectors willing to register them. Good registries will record the serial number for cars that were destroyed and identify those that are unknown (either destoryed or perhaps lurking unregistered somewhere).

 

How people arrive at their "one of 'X' built" numbers is probably just plain fuzzy math.

Here is an example ... I have a OT vette and about 25,000 were built that year ... and of that about 6,000 were "Special Edition" Anniversary cars... and of that about 1700 were roadsters ... and of that about 500 were 6-speeds ... and of that about 200 came with the factory hard-top ... and off that about 100 came with the FX adjustable suspension ... and off that about half (50) had a factory luggage rack.

My twenty year old OT driver is "one of fifty" .... very rare.!! And just imagine how many are still on the road. The whole numbers game is usually (but not always) just a bunch of crap.

.... and then there is my 59 Sedan Delivery ... the General made 5000 of them .... in my mind that isn't rare but others think it is. I just don't know.

DISCLAIMER: Sorry about the OT talk, I just don't know where my head is.

 

41 automobile production was not affected by any government mandated change to war production. The 42s had been in production for several months before the Pearl Harbor attack and continued to make cars until some time after the New Year (1942).

 

Since I build model A's I would say a 'shitload' still exist...

 

I have two out of 3,178 made and I always thought that there were about 8 left. Now people are coming out of the woodwork telling me about the 1931 DB business coupe they just found or got somehow. You never know.

 

Why does it matter how many are left? Is there some kind of free buzz I'm missing out on?

99% of the time how many are left has zero effect on the value of the car or parts if that's where your headed. There are hundreds and hundreds of goofballs on Craigslist trying to sell crap for stupid money cause they think it's valuable when it's not. The ad sits there for months and they still don't get it. The market itself determines the value of a part, not how many are left.

 

I got a One-Of-A-Kind 32 Hudson Pickup

 

as I say don't know and don't care , its my car till I sell it .

 

Better do some research, some models were stopped not all of the line. look at google and at war they said that many companies started war production in 41. never believe the Gov. If you were in the military you should know they never give the truth out.

 

OK HAMB People: Could there be some kind of formula that statisticians use? Mitch

 

Thanks Mitch

 

I have 1 of 1980 , 64 comet villager wagons built. 1 of 5 known still running and the only Canadian model. Now that' rare. 1 was sold on at Barrett- Jackson and that is what the announcer said.

 

Very few Aussie (T.J. Richards) 1933 Dodge 3 window coupes & 1933 Dodge roadsters

 

So. Imnuts how did you find your stats that's what I'm trying to do here.

 

They made 320 of my car in 63. I only seen one in my life besides mine in person.

 

True, to a poiint. Civilian auto and truck production stopped February 2, 1942, period, dot, regardless of what "google sez". Many companies were already replacing auto production with dedicated wartime needs back as far as September 1941. Lend-Lease production had been going on for a time already. The MY1941 vehicle production was unaffected. The MY1942 vehicle production began for most factories in August 1942 for the normal Sept-Oct releases, and by this time, shortages of chromium, aluminum, and other materials essential to the war effort had already been reduced or withdrawn, resulting in the "blackout" cars that were produced for MY1942.

 

Plus, I'm pretty sure Packard was already producing engines for Brit-built tanks and planes by 1941...

 

If you're driving a '32 Ford. . . there's more of them out there today than back in 1932, lol.

 

If you have a '32 ford, there are about 3 million more of them registered than there were ever produced...lmao

 

Damn...beat me to it by a minute,.....

 

When '32 Fords are registered as '32 Fords, and there is only an original run of limited numbers, (say 10,000, arbitrarily) how do you get 30,000 numbers out of 10???

Just a question...(there are so many repops registered as 'Originals')

 

Now, that's a question for your local DMV. I'm sure the answer would be entertaining. But the key word here is " original ".

 

Known to be running by whom? What is your documentation?

According to www.mercurystuff.com, there were 1,980 '64 Comet Villagers made. In fact, multiple sites carry the 1,980 production figure. Like this one

http://www.northland-falcons.com/members-cars_mercury-comets.html

 

I own 58 Edsel Pacer convertible.
6 Pacer convertibles in Finland
+50 in Sweden
+150 in USA ?

 

Hudson was building the Invader engines in mid - 1941, also. Chrysler and GM were building tanks, too. My point is that MY1941 civilian vehicle production was essentially unaffected. In Feb 1942, the WPA ordered ALL civilian auto and truck production stopped. The only vehicles that were available were sedans and farm trucks. A person had to provide huge reams of documention to justify why they needed a new vehicle through the war. Even doctors, fire and police departments, and others considered essential to the war effort had to go through this prosess, which was difficult and nearly always answered in the negative.

The few new cars and trucks that were on dealer lots in February 1942, were appropriated by the WPA and became part of this allotment process. All a dealer could sell after that was parts and service. Since wipers, hoses and tires were made of rubber and therefore rationed, even these items were difficult, if not impossible to obtain.

 

Now that is cool. I wonder how many old cars were cut down into pick ups. Way to many to know i guess. Mines one.

 

I think mines a "one of a truckload" of survivor USA Fiat Topolinos.

You all know the ones - they came with:
Long wheelbase (under 100 inches tho)
a beam front axle
No guards
A V8 engine
12 spokes on the front
Large & wide rubber on the rear

Deluxe versions came with a Hemi and a 671
Poverty pack models came with a SBC and 671

Mines the poverty pack model that came with extra rust too. And it seems most come with bad manners, but thats also known as "charm"

 

And heres the pikkys of the Topo. Plastic one on trailer has the chassis and the red tin and rust car will replace the tupperware body.

 

All things being equal (which they never are) the 10% rule is as good a starting point as any, but some models or cars had more or less saved because of good looks or bad looks or parts donor trends etc., any number of un-quantifiable variables.

A case in point is the '61-'63 Pontiac Tempest/Lemans. A major GM model line, there were hundreds of thousands of them made, but because of their unorthodox mechanicals (torque-tube, transaxle, IRS, V-8 engine cut in half), as they aged their uniqueness became a major liability.

Timing problems, parts availability, etc, many mechanics were unfamiliar with them and advised people against buying them or keeping them. They shared no parts with later Tempests so were not even donor cars for later convertibles GTOs etc. so they were high on the list of cars to crush.

Today there are not many originals left. At a recent international club gathering (the largest ever) of these cars honoring their 50th anniversary there were only a dozen or less of each year and most of those have been modified.

 

Todd, if you ever find one of those Delux versions, id like a ride...