I had a 62 regal 2 door hardtop. The car was not a jump off the line car but I
did not have the problems you have. Now I know the ragtop weighs in more than
the 2 door but I would not think that should make that much difference.

You have to keep the revs up on a six; they are not good "luggers" like the V8.
Have you done a compression check? Everyone that has had a OHV six knows that
valve adjustment and running cool is critical on that six. I would look at that
before going to carb or electrical gremlins. I would check the distributor cap
for a very tiny crack in it that would divert spark. How does the car idle? Is
it just when you have a start off load the car bucks?

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

I owned quite a few and never had those problems.  All of mine had the
3.73 axle.  In fact I thought the engine had lots of torque.  I could
let the clutch out carefully at an idle.  Once the clutch was fully
engaged, I could give it some gas and take off.
If you still have the RBS carb, you might want to look there (low
speed jet plugged).  Make sure the distributor diaphragm isn't
punctured, as it will make for a lean vacuum leak.
If the car pops through the carburetor and at other times loads up,
see if the heat tube is cracked, which allows exhaust into the choke
stove and gums up the choke pull piston.
I usually would retrofit an AS carburetor from a 1959-62, as I felt
they were a little better than the RBS.
KK

Thanks to all of your who have offered your insights and suggestions.
Where I am right now is that I'm getting pretty decent torque and
power at the moment by having adjusted the timing and running some
good quality fuel system cleaner through it. I have received one
interesting suggestion to advance the timing up to 10 degrees post TDC
and observe the results, on the knowledge that Studebaker's factory
timing was historically conservative. I may give that a go, and back
it off again if I encounter any run-on, popping or pinging. To answer
a couple of specific points: the engine idles very smoothly, no
misfiring, popping or other issues. The engine also runs very, very
smoothly as well now, with good (er, decent) responsivemness,
expecially when accelerating from the 25 - 40 mph range.  The rear end
is a 4.06 ratio, and takeoff and accelereation is really pretty good,
considering. I have found that this engine does not like lugging at
all, but rather hits a nice solid torque range in the 2300 and up
RPMs. I think perhaps I'm asking this 170 CID six to behave like a 289
CID V8 which is nonsense. -George-