i bought some new coil springs, after I pulled out the originals I compared them to the new ones. They were very close in length, but I noticed the ends were in different locations. Should I trim them to match the originals and how common is this.

Are you talking about the fronts or rears? For which year car? MOST springs in these cars are flat on one end, pigtailed on the other. You should just have to locate the pigtailed end in the corkscrew end properly.

the springs in question are the front springs for a 64. they are pig tailed on both ends