I am in no way condoning what GM did in the past or is doing today but, let's face it these cars were NEVER meant to be collectable or even still exist at this point in time. They were commodities much like a dishwasher or refrigerator only meant to last just long enough for the original buyer to feel they got their monies worth or a newer model caught their eye. Do you really think whirlpool or maytag can tell you how many washers they made of a particular model and color in 1983? Very doubtful.
Most cars are thought of in the same way by both the manufacturer and consumer. Keeping records for previous models past their useful life makes no sense from a business standpoint and also from a space standpoint. There were very little or no electronic records in those days and keeping paper copies of every car they ever made would take insane amounts of space and money to keep them in storage with absolutely no return on the investment of doing so. I'm sure there wasn't one person at GM in those days that said , hey we should save all this stuff cause in 30 or 40 years someone might want to know how many Cutlasses we made in 1982 with a 307 bucket seats f41 suspension and a cassette player with silver paint and no vinyl top. My guess is no one said that or even cared.
Most cars are thought of in the same way by both the manufacturer and consumer. Keeping records for previous models past their useful life makes no sense from a business standpoint and also from a space standpoint. There were very little or no electronic records in those days and keeping paper copies of every car they ever made would take insane amounts of space and money to keep them in storage with absolutely no return on the investment of doing so. I'm sure there wasn't one person at GM in those days that said , hey we should save all this stuff cause in 30 or 40 years someone might want to know how many Cutlasses we made in 1982 with a 307 bucket seats f41 suspension and a cassette player with silver paint and no vinyl top. My guess is no one said that or even cared.