Brian Thorn wrote:
I wonder if that had something to do with all the different prop tanks
in Stage 1.


The odd design of the Saturn I first stage was due to the fact that they
wanted it to be built as quickly as possible and at low cost.
They already had the tooling to make Redstone and Jupiter missile
tankage, so the first stage consisted of a stretched Jupiter tank
surrounded by eight stretched Redstone tanks. The Jupiter tank and four
alternating Redstone tanks held LOX; the other four held kerosene.
Although clunky from a weight versus propellant capacity way of doing
things, it really sped up the development time of the booster and cut
R&D costs a lot.
The initial versions of Saturn I were ready to go in such a hurry that
NASA didn't have any payloads designed to put on them at first.

Pat