View Single Post
      03-27-2018, 11:29 AM   #26
FairfaxM3
Private First Class
45
Rep
189
Posts

Drives: E46 M3, 1M, F82 M4
Join Date: Apr 2008

iTrader: (0)

Quote:
Originally Posted by analogue View Post
I used the VIN data from the ETK to build this spreadsheet. I believe the registry has had some long standing errors on it, which others have noted years ago. This was one of the cars associated with the wrong country.

2 of the registry cars are actually Canada builds (VP75953, VT47720)
2 of the registry cars are actually US builds (VS96593, VT47840)




There is a specific option code (902) used to identity press/demo cars, which 6 US cars have. The other 4 cars on the registry do not have this option so I can't verify that they were actually demo cars. (VP75924, VP75926, VP75933, VP75936) Maybe they were, but the VIN data doesn't prove it.




I'm definitely open to hearing opinions on this, but 750 seems to be a more accurate number based solely on the VIN data and title histories. What it takes to get to 740:

983 total cars were built for Canada and the US.
222 of 983 were built for Canada.
11 of 761 were pre-production cars that were never imported for sale.
6 of 750 were identified from the factory as press cars (option 902).
4 of 744 were noted as press/demo in the registry, but do not have option 902.

So to get down to 740 you have to exclude the 6 known press cars and the 4 assumed press cars in the registry. The problem I have with that is I can confirm that one of the 6 known press cars (VP75916) was sold to a private owner in 2012. So it makes more sense to me that if I owned that car I would have 1 of 750 in the US.

I think there were 750 built to US specs that could be privately owned, albeit some of those were originally press or performance driving school cars.
I apologize if you took my post as questioning your data. I was mostly commenting on the differences.

I can confirm that all of the 'press' cars identified in the original registry (10) have been sold and registered in the United States. That being the case, in my opinion they should 'count', as you have indicated, as well.

So, yes, 750 seems to be a more accurate number.
Appreciate 0