Howdy FoMoCo 6:
The Holley 1909 was used by FoMoCo in the 1962 model year only. The Comet and Meteor version had automatic chokes while the Falcon and Fairlane version had a manual choke. The carb came in two sizes, 125 cfm in the 144 engines and 150 cfm in the 170 engines. This is a very small, compact carb and quite attractive with its glass side float bowl. These carbs are quite popular with 3 x 1 setups.
The Autolite 1100 was introduced 1963 and used in all small six FoMoCo applications through 1969. They came in three sizes; 144 - 130 cfm, 170 - 156 cfm, and 200 - 185 cfm. Only Comets and Meteors had auto chokes from '63 to '65. After that all were automatic choke type. Through '67, carbs for sticks had only one diaphram on the side of the float bowl, Auto trans carbs had two, the second acted as an anti-stall dash pot.
Both carbs use a rods and levers linkage system til '69. Both leave something to be desired in the accelerater system and transitions systems. Both tended to run rich in their specified applications. Both are fairly durable but very susceptible to dirt and road crud. Rebuild kits for either are commonly available and relatively cheap. Both are easy to rebuild. Both have the Spark Control Valve ( 1100s through '67) designed to work with the vacuum advance only "LoadaMatic" distributor.
Both carbs have advantages and weakness. Both are clean and simple and easy to work on. Tuneability is limited to float level, jets, low seed air screw and idle. Hot starting problems and vapor locking is fairly common with both.
In all fairness, these years used a vacuum only distributor system that, when worn or dirty, gave very inconsistant performance, which was frequently blamed on the carb. Many carb problems can be solved by upgrading the distributor to a '68 or later type.
All things considered, I'd opt for a '68 or '69 1100 and use a Duraspark II distributor system with it.
Hope this helps.
Adios, David
