mac.. not my fault that you are not interesting.
As for the 55 chevy.. the biggest (and only) V8 that you could get was the 265 incher. the 327 did not come out till 62.
It makes not much diff tho.. all small block chevies (265-400) has a wide variety of ignition timing from a few degrees AFTER dead center (weird smog crap) to 10 degrees before. 4 degrees before top dead center was the most common for the 327.
now days.. if you run one of these motors with even a mild cam.. you will find that 10-14 degrees before top dead center is the best range. Most older V8's with a decent cam run better there.
lazs