That may well be the case, it is just that as this car was built after the coupes that I find it hard to believe that having discovered the extra chassis stiffness added by the coupe superstructure that this knowledge along with the extra chassis length used on that Daytona for the 390 would not have been utilised in the Flip Top also, especially with the people involved. Ken Miles had already driven the first 427 roadster ( on wire wheels ) while doing testing on Coupe #1 and was from his comments well aware of the need for some work in the handling dept. Remember these were leaf spring cars, the Ford Computer had not been asked for an opinion yet! While Bill Eaton was responsible for the Daytona chassis stretch, the Flip Top could well have been done during one lunch hour while no one was looking-- at least thats what I would have done---, No politics or bureaucracy to contend with that way & I think that stuff happened quite often back then
