On purely a speculation, I'm guessing that the 1/2" "knee" is a designed in "crown" in what is essentially the main beam of the car.
You can see that in steel long span structures, wood frame joists and even on flat bed trailers to compensate for the natural intended bending of them under load.
I never heard of that in the design of cars since the length of the "span" from front to rear axles isn't usually that long but it does make sense that there is provision for it.
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