I went with Cold Case, a more expensive Chinese radiator mostly because they are the only ones, of the few I emailed who responded in a timely manner, almost immediately. I did get a reply from Griffin about 4 weeks after ordering and receiving the Cold Case. Time will tell if Cold Case was a good decision. I do like that the tanks are stamped, instead of fabricated and if painted would look plausibly stock to someone who didn't know better. I don't care about stock but I think it is a little more elegant looking. Most complaints about them in general were fitment issues but as outlined previously in this thread, I knew that I may have to deal with that.
I think I figured out why the bracket is on the wrong side. I googled pictures. In every case, for stock looking radiators for 61-64: 6cyl has engine side brackets, 8cyl has grill side brackets. Makes sense since the 6 cyl is longer. I think they made the I6 radiator first and then moved the inlets and outlets as necessary for V8. I know this happened with Champion because they only offered the I6 version at first and you could special order it with v8 inlet and outlets. From there, it may have been a case of monkey see, monkey do or maybe chance that they all place the brackets on the engine side.
Griffin can't simply move the bracket. If I had them make it, they want me to send my old radiator so they can copy it. Kind of ridiculous, I think, particularly if they have actually installed their offering in one of these trucks. When I asked if there is a reason for the bracket being placed where they have it, there was no answer, only a statement that that person had "been here 7 years and sold radiators for the 60 Ford Trucks several times. That is the first time I have seen the brackets like yours" So I sent pictures of various '61-'64 trucks that have radiators with brackets positioned just like mine, as well as a link to the US radiators offering, which is an authentic looking brass/copper radiator with brackets on the grill side, as well as the MPC drawing showing a radiator with brackets on the grill side. I also included 6cy pics with the engine side brackets. To be clear, they weren't rude but still bs from a customer service rep where the radiator costs about $1000.
No others responded. One of them is the manufacturer who I got the Firebird radiator from. They replied very quickly when I asked about that so I wonder if I'm on their naughty list for pointing out that their part didn't fit, not even close.
For those who may wonder, the Cold Case unit is FOT577A. I measured about 1 11/16" difference in placement of the bracket and made a spacer 1 1/2" thick since that is close and easiest for me to work with with the tools I have available. The upper hose connection seemed to be about 1/2" to 1" too close to center but the hose can accommodate for that so it really isn't a problem. The lower connection seems to be placed well. The hoses do have enough length that I think the spacers are not needed but that also means that the fan spacer would have to be about 1 5/8" longer and mine is already 2 1/2". This also has higher end features, like dual row, 1 1/4" tubes, 16 fins per inch and 3/8" tube centers, which is probably a part of the reason that it is closer to mid range in price.
The bad stuff, All threads needed to be cleaned. It's like they didn't clean them after machining. This is very important since it is aluminum. The coolant recovery nipple comes threaded into place and it was very "Crunchy" coming out, before cleaning. I was thinking it might gall but it didn't and threaded smoothly after cleaning everything up. The hose nipples and various flanges were sharp and required light sanding.
Lawrenceville, GA