Has anyone heard of a 68 1/2 production run?

I have heard from a couple of sources that existing stocks of car parts were used up as much as possible by the factory at the time of conversion to next-year model runs. This was not done on customer-ordered cars, but on volume runs that were shipped to dealers for off-the-lot sales. They might include mismatched interior components and some mechanical. Have any of you guys also heard about such goings on at the factory?

I have also heard that company "executives" often ordered options not available to the customer, such as items mixed from various trim/performance packages.