Thank you Kenth. Now it makes sense. I have looked at photos of numerous '67-69 Pontiac carbs from numerous internet sources trying to find a correlation of dates to rod type but so many are rebuilds I could not figure it out. I did see, what looked like, survivor Quadrajets from '68 with either type. A mid-year change explains that.
I am going to have a correct '68 carb restored to put on my Firebird. I assume then that a clip style rod on an end of January built car should be fine. Depending on when the switch over happened at Rochester and stock depleted for my part number, the later design might be okay too.