Air Cleaner "Dent?"

[slikside]

So I had the air cleaner and riser tube assembly (stock '72 350 4 bbl) all powder coated. When I picked it up I was inspecting it all before I left, and I noticed a good sized 3-4" long "dent" in the main filter housing. It is located along the lower outside edge perimeter on the back side. I'm trying to determine if this is supposed to be there (factory), or if it was damaged at the powder coaters. I was thinking it could have been for clearance, like the distributor, or coil, etc.. But when I got it home, there is more than enough clearance without it.

I should have taken pics before I dropped it off, or at least inspected it more thoroughly before dropping it off, but I didn't

The shop supervisor pulled up a pic from the internet of a cleaner housing with a very similar "deformity", but it was from a different era truck. I ran a search here and, while none of the pics CLEARLY show what I have, they do appear to have something like it.

I will post a pic later today if I get a chance.

So is it a dent, or was it manufactured that way, for airflow perhaps??

Thanks for the input.