By 53, the flathead distributor had moved from the end of the camshaft to a housing ahead of the right cylinder head. It could be converted to some type of electronic trigger unit like a Pertronix, or you could adapt the MOPAR magnetic trigger system to the Ford distributor and use its pulses to fire a GM-type HEI module. Some of the Ford distributors use an oddball spark advance system with no centrifugal advance and a vacuum advance that works on venturi vacuum, not manifold vacuum.
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!