how many are left

[Mark McDonald <tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I like your idea.  I wonder if there are enough people in the IML
interested in this to do it?

Maybe we could do it state by state.  I would think there was a way to
find out how many vehicles of a particular make are registered in that
state, and then get a breakdown by year.  I will contact the folks in
Florida and see what they say.

I recall seeing a chart in Automotive News that purports to show how
many of each year are still left on the road, and it was interesting.  I
don't think this was blind "guesswork" as much as a rough estimate based
on some kind of model they had come up with . . . certainly not %100
accurate, but giving a good idea.

Jim Gathmann wrote:

> It's especially sad... think of all the car models
> that once were, which are now no longer in
> existance...
>
> There are groups within certain collectible car groups
> which track down certain model... two examples I know
> of:
>
> Buick Grand Nationals... there is/was a group which
> tracked down every one ever produced by vin# and this
> group can tell you which ones are still out there,
> crashed, recycled, etc.
>
> Saab Monte Carlo, similar, only Saab's records weren't
> as good and thus no one knows really how many are
> left.
>
> Makes me wonder (and yes I'm not getting off topic
> here!).... it would be truely interesting if a group
> got started to track down differnt Imperial years to
> see what's left, and what isn't- kind of like the
> Buick Grand National group- only maybe not as extreme
> (i.e. no one would need to know when the cars
> crashed.. but rather the fact that X many have
> crashed, Y many are still on the road, etc.).
>
>         It would be quite interesting to see which ones are
> the hardest to find. Wouldn't surprise me if the 90's
> Imperial (AC Body) is as rare (or more so) then the
> '83...
>
>         Sorry if I went a little OT, but I needed some way of
> explaining what was in my head...
> --- Mark McDonald <tomswift@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > Jim,
> >
> > Thanks for that info.  Kind of sad, to me, to think
> > that %90 of the 68s
> > are gone.
> >
> > I do think while those statistics may be true in
> > general, some cars are
> > exceptions.  For instance, convertibles, and/or the
> > first and last model
> > of anything.  I think people tend to preserve rarer
> > bodystyles, or if
> > they think the car will be more valuable later on.
> > The reason I say
> > this is, there seem to be an awful lot of '68
> > convertibles out there.
> >
> > Jim Gathmann wrote:
> >
> > > Actually, the '71 car would be about as rare (if
> > not
> > > more rare) due to the rate in which cars are
> > > destroyed.
> > >
> > > Once I had stats on the % of cars which survive
> > after
> > > production. It basically came down to a small
> > majority
> > > of cars of a specific model (+/-65%) will be
> > destroyed
> > > within the first decade after production.
> > >
> > > By two decades, that number is up to +/- 80%
> > destroyed
> > > since production date (also- destroyed referes to
> > > being crashed, sent to a junk yard, recycled,
> > etc.).
> > >
> > > By three or more decades, about 90% of the cars
> > made
> > > since production date are gone. Fogret if those
> > > numbers are right (going by memory- had it all
> > nicely
> > > done up on a poster once).
> > >
> > > So if you really think about it, your '83 is far
> > more
> > > common then the 1987 Reliant KPL21 sedan (2 door),
> > as
> > > only 200 of those were made originally! (as seen @
> > > www.allpar.com).
> >
> >
> >