Terry,
If my understanding of Sherman production is correct, I don’t think there is anything incorrect with a Sept ‘42 M4A2 to have left the factory with the early VVSS suspension.
This page shows the month of production for the Fisher built M4A2s:
http://the.shadock.free.fr/sherman_m..._variants.html
My impression of the “interesting” aspect of this suspension on a NWE tank is that it appears that there weren’t many of these early vehicles still available in stock that hadn’t already been committed to other theatres.
Here’s a link to an LAC image which includes an M4A2 (presumably Canadian) with early suspension NW of Caen on 9 Jul 44:
https://recherche-collection-search....Number=3226727