440 oil level

I think in general you don't want to overfill oil. That said, it may have been a practical sollution to make sure you get solid oil to the oil pickup. High performance big blocks came with windage trays and baffled, front and rear, oil pans. I was once told that the windage from the crank will push oil in the pan to the sides enough to uncover the oil pickup on high RPM engines.