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additional breakdowns

bernardo89

New Member
Português
Hi,

I saw this and I have a doubt:

"A Marti Report revealed Ford built 2,932 coupes for 1967 “with these engine/transmission codes,” referring to the 390 with 4-speed. Marti’s book, “Mustang … by the Numbers (1967-1973) reveals additional breakdowns of 543 and 4,403 of the 390-powered coupes built with 3-speed manual and automatic transmission, respectively. So, total 390-coupe production equaled 7,878 for 1967, compared to 12,135 fastbacks, and 2,181 convertibles."

I would like to know the meaning of this word "breakdowns" in this context.
Welcome to the forum,

The meaning is this one, from breakdown - WordReference.com Dictionary of English:
3. an analysis or classification of something;​
division into parts, categories, processes, etc.​
The usage seems odd to me, though. I would expect the total or whole to have previously been identified before using either "breakdown" (noun) or "break down" (verb).
The whole thing would be 100% clearer if presented in table form.
I couldn't make head nor tail of it all.
The whole thing would be 100% clearer if presented in table form.
I couldn't make head nor tail of it all.
I did wonder whether the writer simply copied the word from Marti's book, which quite likely was laid out in table form, without giving any thought to how it fitted into his own article.
No. The numbers "broken down" into parts add up to the total production for that type of vehicle for that year. I doubt every single car of that model produced that year had major mechanical failure.

2932 + 543 + 4403 = 7878

The author in the OP is only interested in the total produced. The book he's using as a reference breaks down the total produced into further subcategories. One subcategory has 543 units and the other has 4403 (perhaps automatic versus manual?). He only cares about the total number so he's adding up the numbers from each subcategory.

I agree it's not the smoothest, clearest way to say it.
Last edited:
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