Question about heater hose connections on 273 2 barrel (1967 barracuda)

By the length of the hoses it looks the hoses were cut and designed to connect and disconnect the heater core. I would say the heater box blend door didn't work or the cable was broke. So this is the way they shut off the heat into the car.

. Or the heater core was leaking and they disconnected it . The way it was done it could be hooked back up without buying new hoses after core replacement. You could not have done this on a 70 or newer car the hoses are different sizes.