1952-59 Ford Anyone know the story on this air cleaner?

Saw this on a FB group. Never seen an air cleaner like this. The owner thinks it's original to his '53 Customline 6cyl/3spd. Does anyone have any insight?

 

Yeah, I think it is a 59 car air cleaner. I know this was also used in 1960 but may have been used as far back as 1957 due to the reduced hood height from 57 on.

 

That’s what’s on both my 59’s 6cyl / 3 on the tree. Both were all originals (my parts car & driver)

 

Mine are open in the topside, but very similar

 

Ford sold a lot of these 6 cylinder engines as industrial power plants for everything from water pumps to limb chippers. The one you have might be from a application where the noise silencing was not required like it was in the cars so no surrounding metal can on the filter. If you ever ran a limb shredder the intake noise wouldn't be heard! Easy to modify the car unit and probably the least cost as opposed to building a entire new part. Just a guess.