Here's what happened

I took a closer look and determined that he actual number listed for the venturi size is 1.06. I had called Pony Carbuetors and they had verified that is the correct carb for the 58 Merc low torque 383. Also, I figured out why I could close the idle circuit and the car still ran. What had happened was 2 of the tiny air bleeds on the secondary side were clogged. Without the air bleeds there was a constant siphoning of the rear float bowl through the transfer slots. It would continue to siphon after I shut the engine off, draining the bowl all the way down to the jets. Ofcourse that would also explain the hard restarting. A cup of fuel inthe intake usually doesn't help with a hot restart. I had to use a piece of wire to unclog the air bleeds, then blew it out with air and some carb cleaner. After reassembling the carb, it works pretty good.

Mark Piechowski