Tony, we recently bought a cherry 42,000 mi '53 Bel Air with Powerglide. I'm almost positive it has never been messed with. The valve cover on our engine has the bolt holes along the centerline of the top, as opposed to the later 235 style along the bottom edges. I'm thinking that I read somewhere that the '53 head (not sure if they meant manual and/or Powerglide) was unique.
Not sure if that answers your question, though.
---> Bill
