A quote from my question, "The opening and lid are like-new, so it's not due to damage." I should have said w/o damage.

What I meant was that the height was acceptable from the midpoint back, not that it was perfect. If I lowered the rear 1/16" it would be flush, but it still would not raise the front 3/16"

If I raised the front to flush (by pushing forcefully upward), the midpoint would be only 1/16" inch higher and would STILL be acceptable, as would the rear.

I'm not using a micrometer or a dial indicator here-just said the back and side-back were "OK" and did not need to be adjusted.

But the front DOES need to be higher to keep water from puddling in the depression because the front edge is low.

You address the wind deflector. I mentioned in my post that I do not have a wind deflector. Not sure if ALL even the manual crank ones HAD deflectors, and that was another point I was kind of asking.