If you look at the pedal assembly rod, you can see that it's been brazed. I wonder if a previous owner had to weld the bracket back to the rod and got the clock position wrong.
The OEM weld on my throttle bracket broke in exactly the same place when the car was less than ten years old (but it had more than 100K on it). Local shop brazed it back. Few years later, the braze broke, so had another shop weld it. That fixed it (although I eventually swapped in another bracket). But yeah, if yours was not clocked correctly when welded or brazed, you could lose travel. Agree that heating and bending up the hanging spoon part would give you more travel before it hits the floor.