Mopar 360 vs Ford 360

my brother in law had a 75 F150 SWB 4sp that he bought new... only had around 60k when I drove it. I thought his motor was shot ! It was the biggest dog I ever drove !

I have read that ford would retard their cams for low end grunt and emissions and that if you were to degree the cam and advance it then coreect the timing and jetting they would run pretty decent.

that makes no sense. retarding the cam would move the torque peak up.