They'd conduct the electricity even better!

An electrical choke on a '69 144s?

Nah, I just found the mechanism of my car's slow crank/no start condition that I have been chasing for the past two weeks.

Thread: http://www.brickboard.com/RWD/index.htm?id=1025467

It seemed like something was taking the battery energy before the starter could use it. I kept thinking there was some sort of high resistance in the starting circuitry.

A soft plume of smoke above the Alternator took me on a search there -- everything there is tight, clean, and solid.

So where's this plume of smoke coming from when I try to crank the engine?

From the front carb?

A fuel leak? Some exhaust escaping?

Geez!

The manual choke cables are HOT!

All I could find under dash is chafing on both cables' sheaths where they pass through a small oval hole in the black bracket which supports the steering column.

Is metal to metal contact here enough, alone, to short-circuit my starting?

The harness from the ignition switch through the firewall is nearby, but there is no short evident from any wire damage, for example.

Hoo-Boy.