The judgement of the design depends on a number of factors and the purpose of the engine.... Design for production and fitting into a small car's engine compartment and grocery getting and powering a forklight will give a different design result than designing for minimum times on a 1/4. Block length had to be limited for the new new generation of compact cars (Lancer/ Valiant for the Chrysler stable), and that would force smaller bore size for an inline 6 and that would push the stroke up to get the cubes, which in turn would push the rod length to avoid TOO much rod angle with the small bore. (No sense in adding the cost of notching the bores for a production engine, right?) And small rod angles lower piston and bore wear.... important for production engines. So viewed in that way, it does all work well together. It just ain't a race engine design!
