The shorter steering column was used with steering wheels with angled-down spokes, so you could use either length column and steering gear as long as a year-correct wheel is used with the appropriate column. The height of the rim of the steering wheel remains the same. The angled-spoke wheel was one of the first efforts to protect a driver in a head-on collision- - - - -the wheel had to collapse 3" before the driver got impaled by the steering shaft. Several years later somebody came up with 2-piece telescoping steering shafts, seat belts, shoulder belts, and air bags. All this in the name of protecting drivers from their own stupidity!
Jerry

"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!