Last time i ran into this problem, inreplaced the fuel pump and it was all good. Check valve or the diaphram was leaking,allowing fuel to siphon back...you could remove the fuel line off the carb and see if you have fuel when you crak eng over..if not ...try fuel pump..they dont last forever. Esp if the truck does more sitting than driving....
I'm no expert, but I think you have a great point. Vehicles perform much better when driven regularly. I've noticed that with my 1953. When I drove it to high school and was driving it daily, it was a pretty smooth runner and very few issues, but I always suspected the block needed rebuilding because it would puff a little blue smoke on cold starts. But when I left for college and two moves, job changes over the next few years etc, and the truck sat for years covered up in the garage, things went to crap quick. There were a couple of periods where it went 2-3 years without even being cranked. So now that I have a fresh rebuilt 261 in it, I intend to drive it more and at very least, crank it every 2 weeks and let it get to full running temperate for 20 minutes or so just to keep things moving.
