4 speed hawk starter

Howdy Y'all, I have the 1961 Hawk (4 speed model) that I graduated high school with, It has not been tagged since 1971 when I left for Viet Nam. I am now trying to get same on the road again. I has been in my Dads shop inside in West Texas since 1971. He went to South Bend and bought a "new" long block in the early 70's..now the problem I have 3 starters, one of them I pulled off of a engine that came out of our 59 Hawk w/auto trans..I can't get any of these starters to pull up on the bell housing. I measured the hole that is in the automatic bell housing and it is deeper than on the 4 speed bell housing..Dad swears that these 3 starters are the only ones we had..all the same...is there a spacer (maybe 3/8" or 1/4") that goes between the starter and Bell housing or what?? also I have a ton of parts that we stripped off of the 59 if ya know a body in need.. Thanks in advance for any help or direction...Jack