Thanks for the responses.

1) Not old gas. Tank was dry when I bought it. We had to winch it onto a trailer when I bought it cause it wouldn't start. When I got it home, and added gas, it fired right up. (And we all felt pretty stupid)

2) New coil (not that that means its good...) Its just some crappy aftermarket performance coil that I think I bought from Autozone.

3) Edelbrock carb was new. The previous owner put it on after he bought it in 2001, but the car was never driven. I suppose the float level is still suspect. Could be: carb was added in 2002, gas was added to the car, an then it sat for years. But - previous owner said he started it every 3 months or so and let it run for a while. He was definately a car guy (but he was a chebby guy that bought a mopar).

4) Don't get me started on arcing plug wires. I THINK I have the wires all safely away from the headers, but there are at least 2 plug boots that rest nearly right against the header. But - I suspect it would misfire all the time if that was the problem, not just when I get into the throttle. I know this is a future problem waiting to happen once I'm able to drive the car for more than a mile at low speed.