Hood hinge spring on my 53' Merc

[Merc Cruzer]

Recently I had a hood hinge wear out and so I replaced it. I noticed that the coil spring on the replacement hood hinge was larger than the ones on the hinges when I got the car. After looking into it further, I discovered the coil spring on the replacement hood hinge was the same size as on all other 52-54' Merc's that I had pictures of. Both springs appear to be the same design and the smaller springs have been used without incident over the last 6 years, holding the hood open. Any ideas as to where the smaller springs would have come from? Does anyone know if there was a change during the production? These are the same ones used on Fords and the trucks.