Thermostat (scratching my head)

[Shrek]

I've been chasing my bubbies heater problem in his 93. Last option was to pull the thermostat and check the feed line to the core. BINGO...it was clogged!
Now here's the strange part: the thermostat has two bypass springs and neither one is long enough to hold the disc in position.

The one on the left is from my wifes 91 that I replaced years ago when I replaced the water pump.

The one on the right is from his 93.

Wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this? Could it be some sort of test part associated with the cars original history?

The car was an early 93 production (#17) that went to a test engineer and has emissions exempt decals under the hood along with coolant temps written with grease pencil on the surge tank.