What would cause such a thing?

Yes. I bought an old 340 and when I tore it down, 7 of the cylinders had one broken ring and the 8th had both rings broken. Probably due to detonation, but possibly broke on initial installation too. It all depends on when the compression loss started, either immediately or after being run for a while.

Did you run regular gas in it or high test?
Pretty sure I was running regular, young family, money tight, stupid me, yadayada. Ran that car for about 4 months before it did it.