Air cleaner snorkel – why is it installed at an angle?

Random question but why is the air intake snorkel on a lot of older cars always installed at an angle relative to where the car is pointing? I noticed that the air cleaner on mine has 'FRONT' stamped on it and that results in the snorkel on it being off to the left of the car. Was there ever any technical explanation for not just pointing the snorkel straight at the front? I'm suddenly very curious about this haha
Author: edbods