The true answer to that question is lost to us and discussing it can raise hackles even now, 8 years after the fact.

Personally, I think the couple of people who said that there were only 318, including the official who set it to paper, are just incorrect.

I have always felt the real number had to be closer to 750.

Others will say that numbers would be skipped and/or that '97 with high numbers were originally produced for another country and have been imported. I don't know. But 318 has always sounded way too low.

LOL... Sometimes I feel I have seen that many personally!