The main flaw in that line of thinking is that you're assuming they separate records by platform. The SG30/31 reports do break down installation rates of options based on sales, but all cars for a particular model year are included in the report. So for someone to go through each report and "weed out' the less popular models but still keep the rest of the information just ain't gonna happen. What is missing are shipping invoices from part way through 1967 through to almost the end of 1971. I can't speak for now, but 25-30 years ago Chrysler did have the raw material (i.e. master computer tapes in the US - not in Canada) to recreate those invoices but nobody had the balls or the budget to get it done.
What no one talks about and no one ever seems to have stumbled across is something called a VSPR. which I believe stood for Vehicle Scheduled Production Report. Unlike the SG30/31 reports which were compiled by buys working for product planning and are based on cars sold in a particuilar market (Canada, U.S. export) the VSPRs were compiled by each individual assembly plant and documented the installation rate of options on cars that were just built. The VSPRs were sent to one central area in Highland Park and while I was able to talk to whoever was the supervisor there, he had ZERO interest in sharing what he had and also refused to talk about what was done with the information or who the internal customer at Chrysler was for the information. So if somebody wants to be the real hero, of this story, find the VPSRs.
Yes, the VSPRs are exactly what I was talking about. Only thing was that "at the time", other than some composite data of what was popular and what was less-popular, that's all that was typically considered. It was just "data", no more, no less. It was not until a decade or more later when such data was considered as a part of the ultimate value of an E-body or B-body car. As in the Chrysler Corp "famous" 1 of 12 equipment/trim combinations on those cars, or something like that.
In getting each plant ready for a new model year's production, there HAD to be projections of installation rates of the various standard and optional equipment on each vehicle platform that went through each plant. So other production facilities to get ready to produce/supply those projected volumes, too. With these "known" numbers, then the parts organizations could get ready to produce projected volumes of replacement parts for future years of the cars in customers' ownership.
Many interested individuals did lots of work to keep up with the B and E-body figures, by observations. Seeing this, many younger people coming into the hobby automatically figure that such information exists for other Chrysler vehicle platforms, as a matter of course. When our C-body cars were produced, they were "just cars" as the smaller cars were of more interest to younger buyers and performance enthusiasts who could see the future value in some of the data. Although MUCH of the Chrysler Corp data was preserved, an even greater amount was lost after the particular model year's production ended. "Time for new data" and the prior model year's data was not needed after the vendors had been paid and corporate income taxes paid, then kept for several years.
RATHER than get excited about specific production numbers per se, it might be best to be oriented toward "That was a popular equipment combination back then" or "That is an unusual equipment combination, didn't see many of them" instead. As some options were usually grouped together when the cars were ordered . . . like power steering and power brakes, cruise and tilt steering, 4bbls and SureGrips, power windows and power door locks. Or more SureGrips sold in the states nearer the Canadian border than in Texas, for example. Or more cruise controls sold in the mid-west and states with greater expanses of Interstate highways. Similar with factory a/c being more in the southwest or southern states. Or white vinyl interiors not being sold to "blue collar" customers who might be prone to wearing blue denim jeans, but the opposite for higher-level vehicles whose owners would be prone to wear "slacks" instead. If, for example, a Fury II was sold with a base V-8, any transmission, but with power steering and no power brakes, from a smaller-town dealer, the dealer's target market would not be the same as if would be for a same year Fury III or VIP, for example. Yet thrown in an uncommon color and the car could well have been a "Sales Bank" car the dealer bought at a decreased price from the factory. LOTs of dynamics which could be at play! None of which might be reflected in "the data".
Some of the same might be said for various platform models, too. More C-body 4-dr hardtops rather than 2-dr hardtops, typically, I suspect.
Having grown up with "cars", then going to work in the new car dealership end of things, I noticed and learned about such things in real time. Somebody getting into the game now, or recently, might not have this level of understanding of things or how they happened, back then. But if you consider the target market of the cars and their related customer demographics, a LOT of things then can fall into place. Just have to think about it. These would be things that can vary with particular regions of the country, too. Although there are some more-universal orientations which did exist.
Enjoy!
CBODY67
