my thoughts are that with the alcohol now in most gas there is not much chance of seeing water settle in it unless the gas is so loaded with water that the alcohol cannot absorb anymore. by then it is pretty poor fuel. and though the original bowl type filters have metal screens at the top of them they probably let a lot of fine stuff pass through.( and sometime those have been removed or damaged)- likely a little would only settle out in the carb bowl but eventually could start causing problems I guess.my 61 has a filter housing mounted under the cab and I have no idea if it was original equipment but I did buy a new filter cartridge to put in it. probably as any filter becomes stopped up in the suction side of the fuel pump it would make vapor lock more likely especially in hot weather since the newer gas formulas seem to be pretty prone to that.fuel injection systems seems to handle it fine because they have an in tank pump that runs in the fuel and stay cool with no problem picking up and recirculate all the time to help eliminate problems.that lets the gasoline manufacturers blend some pretty light crappy blends without complaints. what a long winded reply huh? Raymond