Thanks for the responses. I'll check it out. The only thing I had ever seen showing the difference was in parts catalogs for the bellhousing to engine plates, and I could never keep my bolt count straight.
Here is a picture of a Post August 64'-73' Ford toploader transmission. Notice that there are 8 bolt holes on the face. The inner most 4 holes match the bellhousing pattern of a 5 bolt bellhousing. The outermost holes fit the 6 bolt bellhousing.
Pre-Aug 64' Toploader transmissions do not have the extension ears found on the pic below and thus do not have the outer most bolt holes. They cannot easily be bolted to a post Aug 64' type bellhousing. It would require some type of modification or an adapter. The cases are interchangeable though so the guts and tailhousings can be swapped from one style to the other, if necessary.
I want to install a T5 of some sort, and the info I have read indicates that depending on what engine/bellhousing I have will determine whether I need just an adapter plate or a whole new bellhousing (at least that's what I make of it), so I need to find out what I have in order to find out what parts I need to get final cost and to start shopping. I have an early 289 (aluminum water pump) mated to a T10 4-speed, but have been told before that this combo could ge either way.
If you have a 5 bolt, you'll need to use the adapter plate, if it's 6 bolt, you have the choice of that or a T5 bell, depending on how you want to operate the clutch.