Though not a fool proof system that might help would be to look through all of the Shop tips and document either through descriptions, and illustrations the changes shown there since each issue is dated by month. Though it might not be exact the information collected they may work in concert with other sources. Real hard to figure out things, without a written description from Ford/Autolite - smoking gun
since few if any of us kept record of what spark plugs originally came out of what original car we may have seen or owned 50 years ago
Just a thought and possible lead for your search
Here is an example from 1970. It is for small engines - just an example of what is out there . As mentioned there are some down sides for using sales ads for this sort of research - one being that they show replacement rather than assembly line pieces
