A couple of cars I owned in the past had the muffler located at the rear of the car. The 1978 Oldmobile Cutlass I owned had the muffler mounted transversly. I replaced the muffler at least once every four years. To me, this location didn’t make sense because the exhaust gases were cooler when the reached the rear of the car and the moisture, along with the corrosive byproducts of combustion ate out the muffler more quickly. I think the 1965 Rambler Classic that I owned had the muffler mounted the same way at the rear of the car.
I found on cars I owned back in the early 1960s that a glass packed straight through muffler lasted longer. They weren’t much noisier than a regular muffler and didn’t cost as much.