I don't know why the factory would have done that, but I might be wrong.
Since yours was an early car it was not built by Mitchell. I can't recall the name of the first company that delivered "bodies in white", but I recall reading in the Continental files about slow deliveries and very poor workmanship and an enormous amount of lead. The bodies were fitted at the body maker on a jig. It could be that they were assembled and guide holes drilled before the front of the car was removed from the jig for shipment. Since they didn't have a frame to support the front fenders the entire front end was removed from the body.
Somewhere around here is a picture of how the bodies were shipped on a giant pallet.
I'm looking for a clean picture of the Mark IIs being shipped in bags. The only one I can find was copied off of grainy paper.
Barry Wolk
Farmington Hills, MI
C5681126