How Many 69 L89 Chevelles?

[JoeC]

I made a mistake in my above post.
SS convertible production is roughly 2 percent of total 2 door V8s. (not 20 percent) so the total L89s would be roughly 8 of the 400 not 80.
I mixed this up with my "guess" for LS6 convertibles which is about 80 units.
El Camino production is roughly 10 percent of total 2 door V8s but I figured SS ElCamino was a lower percentage so to be conservative I used 5 percent. So my guess would be roughly 5 percent of the 400 L89s would be 20 L89 El Caminos in 1969.
I use conservative numbers to come on the low side of production. As I said this is my guess.
In my opinion any car with a mass production total under 100 units is an very low number.
If you use the percent of total to "guess" at production numbers at least you see where the numbers come from.
Often, I see low production numbers quoted but there is no explanation of the origin of the numbers.


Quote from Dan Carr's web site......
"In 1968, the SS-396 coupe, SS-396 convertible, and SS-396 El Camino were separate models, unlike later years where the SS was simply an option package. This means that the exact production totals for the different 1968 SS-396 models are known. Records show the 1968 SS-396 totals were comprised of 55,309 coupes, 2,286 convertibles, and 5,190 El Caminos. This equates to 88.1% coupes, 3.6% convertibles, and 8.3% El Caminos. This shows that the SS El Camino was probably a significant component of the SS total for any given year"

[442w30]

Going by my experience with other brands, as well as brands that have more definitive documentation in regards to production figures, I don't think you can use a general percentage on a ragtop. I believe ragtops (and Elkys, too!) carry different weight. For example, it's not unusual for ragtops to have a higher percentage of AC installations than hardtops. While this would be contrary to logic (as one can lower the top for free AC!), there's also the factor that a ragtop buyer may have been more upwardly mobile and in a different life place than the typical hardtop buyer. We can assume people didn't want to go fast in a ragtop and would settle for a regular 396 or maybe there's a guy out there who wanted the best of everything. There's just no way to estimate. If you don't believe me, check out production figures of 442 sport coupes with the W-30 package versus ragtops. I think you'll be surprised on the skew.

[olredalert]

JoeC,

--------Im in general agreement with your percentages. But in the case of 1968 it should be remembered that this was the first year for the SS396 El Caminos. Earlier years could get the big-block but never the SS, although many SS hoods and emblems have been added to 66/67s after the fact. I think this pushes the number of 1968 SS El Caminos ordered up a bit, as there was some pent up demand to buy SS El Caminos in 1968. By 1969 this pent up demand probably had petered out and SS Elkys ordered may have fallen off a bit.
--------As I spew out my unsubstantiated theories it occurs to me that 1969 was possibly a longer production year for Chevelles and Elkys as well so maybe my drivel is just that!!!!!........Bill S

[Mr70]

"1969 was possibly a longer production year for Chevelles and Elkys as well so maybe my drivel is just that!!!!!"

Of the six plants producing the 1969 Elco,only 3 continued barely one month longer.Oshawa Canada plant was a new addition starting with the 1969 model year,but stopped production after July,& didn't produce solid lifter models anyway.

[JoeC]

Maybe I should have not posted this method of guessing at production numbers but this is what I use. As I say it is a rough estimate and can not be accurate because you have to guess at the percentage. I use this because some times people ask for a rough estimate of a cars production. For example they may just want to know if there were 10 made or 100 made or 1000 made and if we know how many of the RPOs were made but don't know the breakdown of each model, I use the overall percentage to "guess" at a number.