That’s what I thought too. Steel housing filter installed vertically just above the fuel pump.
A remember seeing a lot of adaptations later where the rubber line was connected there and the filter was put above horizontally closer to the carb for ease of replacement.
As I recall, the original filter was placed low vertically in front of the engine so that the heat from the engine and exhaust manifolds wouldn’t cause the fuel to boil inside the metal filter canister.
Placing it upfront also allowed the fan to cool the housing and being below the rising heat kept it from getting too hot.