First series Transmission Anomaly

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

Take a look here, this was buried in the bottom of a crate of NOS First series transmission cases.
The bronze thrust plate is quite amazing

[CRudolph]

That's cool Craig

[John Waak]

Tell us more. What do you speculate this to be? Bronze, I have heard, was frequently used in early production, or experimental runs. What is your take?

[Matthew Welcher PWA]

The casting number verify so that it is a first series transmission case.
The date is stamped as a 1943.
Now in my mind, since part of me believes this has never had internals in it, that yes early on there was an "option" so to speak to have a replacement bushing available.
A few reasons for why and why not, this would keep anything from walking back and forth. It would tighten up the specifications of the internals and keep from wearing into the case itself.
Hypothetically you could wear into the bronze, contact the hardware and cause serious damage.
This is the first I have seen this but imagine it cannot be the only one of these in existence.
I am really hoping someone has more details.
Once the temperature come above freezing I really want to see how many more of these are in the crate.