Thanks for all the ideas and advice.

looks like I have some 'to dos'. I will report back.

in the mean time, here is what I have found and done:

1.
I pulled a spark plug and it was old and black and dirty. so, i replaced the spark plugs.

engine is a tiny bit smoother, but still have the issue (whatever that is).


2.
looked at the distributor cap, rotor, solenoid. solenoid looks ancient. cap and rotor look as old as the spark plugs were.

so, I will replace them (and I guess points and condenser too) once I locate the parts.


3.
I did some experimenting for the gas leaking. what I think is happening is that as the engine is stalling the carb is still getting gas, and since the gas is not consumed it causes the flood and spills as it stalls.

4.
the only way I can get the engine to run a bit longer is with the manual choke pulled all the way back (like when it is first started), but it smells like it is running really 'rich'. once I start to push it, in as the engine warms, it stalls even sooner.

is that indicative of anything?


5.
in some ways the roughness of the engine is like an engine with bad timing.

so I went over to the distributor and found that, instead of my newer vehicles where a distributor is tightened down 'solid' by a bolt, this 55 distributor can be turned a little bit back and forth within a particular 'range'. turning it like I could did not change anything as far as roughness.

is this amount of play 'normal'?

how does one adjust the timing?


6.
I set the idle up about 1/4 turn of the screw and that helps it run a little better, but the overall problem is still there.

thanks in advance