On the shock deal, they are rated at 100% at verticle, then diminish in effectiveness as angled. There are some charts floating around out there that show the numbers, but I don't have it handy right now. That being said, on these old transverse setups the angle can be less of a "negative" because the suspension tends to pivot on the spring center in most highway/real world use, only occasionally will the axle move evenly at both ends (such as driving across a swale). The possible additional problem on the example Pops mentioned of the shocks being mounted with the bottoms more toward the center of the chassis is a comparative lack of leverage for the rate of the shock.

BTW, Mopar had a similar shock bracket to the Ford F1.