Mike, keep in mind that maybe some cars could have been fitted with Fiat 850-style rear lights, which are thinner than the correct Simca 1000 units which protrudes more, thus probably the more or less recess illusion...
I know, I had initially some Fiat lights on my car (GTD), and when I did put the correct Simca units, the visual aspect went quite different (and far more nicer according to me)