How the facts are sourced

Sports car history is full of numbers that everyone repeats and nobody can trace. Every figure on this site carries its scope and the numbered sources that give it.

One fact, one scope

Each figure records what was counted, for which generation, body, market and period, and where the number came from. A production total, a sales figure, a delivery count, a homologation requirement and an announced production cap are different things. They are never added together or used to stand in for one another. A figure for United States sales is not a figure for global production.

Which sources carry the most weight

1. Manufacturer records: factory production ledgers, archives, annual reports and dated press releases.
2. Marque registries and chassis registers kept by qualified clubs or historians.
3. Period road tests, museum records and sanctioning-body results.
4. Reputable secondary histories, auction catalogues and specialist press.
5. Enthusiast forums, used only to find better sources.

The source list at the foot of each model page gives the publisher and kind of every source, so a reader can see what each figure rests on. A figure that only a single weak source repeats is left out of the tables.

When sources disagree

Where credible sources give different numbers, the figure carries a Sources differ mark and every competing figure is shown with its own source under Where sources disagree. Often the gap has an explanation, such as one source counting chassis numbers issued and another counting unique cars built, and where it does the story says so. The site does not pick a winner by guesswork.

Scope

The catalog covers factory-built, road-legal sports cars, mostly two-seat roadsters and coupes. Race-only cars, prototypes, replicas and continuation builds are named as such when they appear in a story. Porsche 911 and 718 and the Chevrolet Corvette have their own dedicated CarFacts catalogs.

Independence

Sports Car Facts is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any manufacturer, club or registry. Sources are cited for attribution and quoted only briefly.