Triple conversion is pretty common. I am using that on 160M now. But variable IF, That’s tweak city specialized stuff right there.
I hate to see the old sets relegated to the boneyard
Dad told me Mr. Collins (who was like 9 or something at the time, same as Dad, probably) was able to receive radio copy just fine in his garage as a hobbyist, whilst the US Navy, who presumably knew what they were doing, couldn’t get squat! Gotta be one of my favorite radio stories.