Manual timing advance rod question - mine is all bent

[billybronco1]

I did not like the looks of the rod that runs from the distributor to the steering column, it is all bent so I looked at other engines and every one of them is straight. So I straighten mine out and noticed this must have been an adjustment because if I put the handle all the way down there is a gap on the distributor with remaining room to advance the timing more, maybe 1/8". What do you think is going on here? Is this normal? I have not attempted to adjust the timing yet.