The 1983 Specialized Expedition I recently acquired has clamp-on Suntour Symmetric DT shifters. When looking it over, I noticed that it appears as though the front shifter is bent outwards (away from the frame) at a funny angle. There is no evidence of a blow or crash that could have done this anywhere else on the shifter, and it would have had to be a very hard and precise strike to make it happen. I thought about this a little, then put it out of my mind.

Then today I stumbled across a Centurion Pro Tour on eBay that has Symmetric shifters. As I was scrolling through the photos I saw one that looks much like mine does, with the front shifter angled outwards away from the frame. Could this have been intentional for some reason? Is this photo playing tricks on me?