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How come the statistics on my Marti report don't match the numbers in the "by the Numbers" book or other sources?

There are several possible answers:

If you found a statistic published in the Shelby Registry or a magazine or an ad for someone selling their car, it is likely the statistic published by one of those sources is in error. We are working with SAAC, the Shelby Club, to correct some of their incomplete data (which led to erroneous statistics) so that the next issue of the Shelby Registry will be accurate. When it comes to magazines and ads, many times statistics were "made up" for whatever reason, sometimes as a "guess" and sometimes to perpetrate a fraud.

If you found a statistic on your report that doesn't match with one of our "by the Numbers" books, many times the "discrepancy" is a matter of interpretation. For example, a 1967 Mustang with a 390 has an engine code of "S." However, a Shelby GT-500 for the same year also has an engine code of "S" even though the engine is a modified 428 Police Interceptor. Note that the Marti report says, "With these engine/transmission codes" which is not the same as this engine/transmission combination. This is why it is useful to read the footnotes and other commentary in the "by the Numbers" books.

Another example of this can be the definition of the word "option." Some items, like tachometers, are optional on certain cars, while they are included equipment on the same model with particular engine/transmission combinations. For example, a 1969 Mustang with a V-8 could be ordered with a tachometer. However, an FE engine (390 or 428CJ) that was ordered with a manual transmission had the tachometer installed as part of that engine/transmission combination. In this case, the tachometer was not an option on the vehicle. It was an item included with a package. It would not be listed on the window sticker (or the Marti Report) even though it was installed on the vehicle. So, the number of Mustangs ordered with tachometers as an option is not the same as the number of Mustangs with tachometers.

Special paint statistics can be particularly confusing. If you happen to have a Pink 1968 Mustang Convertible and your report shows that 286 had that paint code, note that it did not tell you that 286 were painted Pink, merely that 286 had that paint code. And what is the paint code for a special paint car? It is a " " which is to say the code is blank. Since all special paint cars are blank, the 286 represents all of the special paint 1968 Mustang convertibles, of which the Pink cars are a subset. Since Ford did not keep track of what color they painted special paint cars in the database, there is no way to ascertain the correct number. The best that can be said in this example is that less than 286 were painted Pink.

As always, if you want a clearer understanding of the statistics quoted on your report, study available literature for other subtleties like the aforementioned and read the statistics section of the Marti reports literally.

More information can be found at this FAQ.

Answer provided by
Kevin Marti
Last updated March 2, 2012