This is taken from a old 1975 Ford Annual Report that I found in my dads things! 1969 Maverick-288,342. 1970 Maverick-340,214, Comet-27,577. 1971 Maverick-251,047, Comet-65,842. 1972 Maverick-230,322, Comet-66,236. 1973 Maverick-282,818, Comet-82,716. 1974 Maverick-238,138, Comet-90,113. 1975 Maverick-136,496, Comet-37,222. Notice there is no listing for a 1969 Comet. Was there a '69 Comet? What did it look like? Of course these number only include up to 1975 so its not a "total" producton figures for these cars. Also, notice how many more Mavericks were sold then Comets. This is for U.S. and Canada production only. Ford made many more Mavericks and Comets in other countries into 1979. This book also states the by 1976 Ford sold 400,000 Granadas so you can see the changes happening.
Just the fact that they have 1969 Maverick listed makes me wonder if it is going by how many they actually produced each real calendar year and not by model year? There was never a 1969 model year Maverick, but obviously they did build a ton of them in 1969.
hmm thats weird, it says they only made 136K mavs in 75 but my VIN says i have the 196,984th mav of that year?
Thats because the serial numbers started at 100000 for Fords, so your car is 96,984th off the line in 75.
Another thing that backs up the idea that this was for calendar years is the fact that a Comet is even listed for 1970. No such animal ... The 1969 Comet was based on the Torino body style for that year. Pretty hard to find. I think I have only ever seen one in person and was pretty blown away standing next to it. "So that's what these look like ..."
Changeover generally occurred in July or August. Even though they list it as a 70 Comet it was a 71 Comet built during the 1970 calendar year.