No question at all that some puffery is definitely involved. It has to do with bragging rights and egos. We seem to be fascinated by the production numbers in this hobby, especially those that elevate a particular car into a range of rarity well above the rank and file base models. It is the same in other hobbies - for example: the book and comics hobbies - look at the difference in the value of a First Edition Superman comic book and a plain old everyday issue of Superman. The puffery is directly proportional to the rarity of an item and its perceived value.
Take this post for example - it is 1 of only 2 posts in this thread with the word Puffery in it...now that's rare indeed!
BJ