Update:
The car is running fantastic now. I am not entirely sure why the clean carburetors where not functioning correctly before, but the clues you all offered in this thread certainly helped me arrive at my satisfactory conclusion.
I had an extra set of carburetors for the car sitting in a box in unknown condition. I completely dismantled the carburetors and soaked them in cleaner then made sure every port was clear of obstruction and scale removed. Going the extra mile, I boiled the carbs with water and a touch of vinegar to really get them clean. I bought a "Royze" brand carburetor kit, and installed all the new bits with gaskets. The choke function does indeed have two 180 degree possibilities and I was careful to follow the flow pattern and installed it correctly.
I adjusted the valves to specification. The timing had been set at zero degrees, which was way off. I set it to five degrees instead of the eight degrees specified because I want to run regular unleaded instead of premium unleaded gas.
The vacuum tube that goes from the carburetor to the distributor was plugged up and stopped the system from advancing or retarding by vacuum. Now it is working correctly after a cleaning.
The car is running great with lots of torque. I can easily keep up with traffic now.
The mystery had several villainous components that robbed the car from optimal performance. Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and experience!
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