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Fallacies & Myths

 

There are many owners, sellers, flippers, et al. out there claiming "1-of-some number" for their car. Many of which are misunderstandings, misconceptions, and most (sadly) just plain lies. Claims like "1 of 5 red 1970 SS 454 convertible with 4-speed and red bench seat" are, at best, misleading and not true. While it may be true the owner has never seen another red 1970 SS 454 convertible with a 4-speed and red bench seat doesn't mean there aren't more out there.

 

While one can determine how many of a single option was sold, there is no way to know just what that option was installed on in most cases. There are some exceptions, yes. We'll use the 1970 model year for the following since this is a very popular model year.

 

It is known, for example, there were 40,728 1970 Malibu series El Caminos built, 539 with the 250cid L6 and 40,728 with some V8. Since there were a number of V8 engines available (the 307, the L48 350-2, the L65 350-4, the LS3, the L34, the L78, the LS5, and the LS6), one can only calculate an even distribution of those 8 different V8 engines.

 

With some options, one can, correctly, determine how many of a certain option were sold by simple math. For example, the 1970 SS 396 option came with the base L34 engine or an optional L78 engine. Since the L34 engine was not an option as such, one can subtract the number of L78 engine options (2,144) from the total SS 396 options (53,599) to determine that 51,455 SS 396 Chevelles have the base L34 engine. Same for the SS 454 option; the base LS5 engine is not an option as such but by subtracting the number of optional LS6 engines (4,475) from the total SS 454 options (8,773) one can determine that 4,298 SS 454 Chevelles have the base LS5 engine.

 

If one wants to know how many 1970 ZL2 Special Ducted Hood System options were sold, that's easy as production reports puts that number at 28,888. This number represents to total number of ZL2 options sold but here's the catch, the option does not tell you how many were sold on sport coupes, convertibles, or El Caminos or how many were sold with the SS 396 or SS 454 option. Once can calculate an statistical even distribution but that's all. First one has to determine how many Malibu convertibles, sport coupes, and El Caminos were built then determine the percentage of each model against the total. The image below shows these calculations. Convertibles made up 2.12% of the 3 different body styles that could order the ZL2 hood, sport coupes made up 85.82% and El Caminos made up 12.07%. Assuming an even distribution you get the numbers shown. To get a number for both the SS 396 and SS 454 option dilutes the result since any calculation would be based on previously calculated numbers.

 

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1970 ZL2 Special Ducted Hood by body style

 

One can do a similar calculation on how many ZL2 options were sold by one of the 4 possible SS optioned engines. For example the L34 engined SS 396 makes up 82.50% of the 4 engines possible in both SS options. By taking 82.50% of all the ZL2 options, one gets 23,833 ZL2 options sold with the base SS 396 engine. A fact? No, just an even distribution.

 

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1970 ZL2 Special Ducted Hood by engine size

 

Now what happens when you try to determine how many L34 and ZL2 options were sold in convertibles? You cannot do it. First you can only determine how many SS396 convertibles were built by percentages and there's no way to even calculate how many of those may have also ordered the ZL2 hood.

 

The same fallacies of numbers are true for any option that could be ordered on more than one body style, with more than one engine, etc. such as D88 Hood & Deck Stripes, TH400 automatic transmissions, even bucket seats. The D88 Hood and Deck Stripes and bucket seats were options on any V8 Malibu sport coupe, convertible, or El Camino whereas the TH400 was optional behind any SS 396 or SS 454 engine.

 

So the next time you see a poster claiming there are 37 454 LS5 red convertibles with a TH400 and ZL2 hood or hear a seller claim their black SS 396 with A/C and red bucket seats is 1-of-10, remember this page.

 

 

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