Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1985 Chevrolet Celebrity, chevy celebrity, chevrolet celebrity

Question
I just came into ownership of a 1985 chevy celebrity with 26,000 miles.  Garage kept, mint condition, driven by a little old lady!  It had been sitting in garage for 1 1/2 years and not started.  I had it towed to my mechanic who charged the battery and changed the oil.  It has a hesitation on acceleration.  He says it's the carburetor.  It had a full tank of gas which he added dry gas to.  It starts first time and runs fine.  As soon as I push the gas peddle down, it stalls.  I can play with it somewhat and get it to drive around a bit but have to be careful and not pull out into an intersection for fear it will stall.  Question:  Is it the bad gas and should I siphon it out and replace.  Is it the carburetor that needs cleaning?  He is mentioning replacing the carburetor.  I don't understand why it would need replacing when the original owner had no problems with the car and took good care of it.  Please help if you can.  Thank You!  - Karen

Answer
Well in my opinion your mechanic is right on target. Inside the carburetor the accelerator pump is a soft plunger that squeezes a small amount of fuel through a jet to give the engine a shot to make it accelerate. When not used this plunger hardens and will not compress the fuel and as a result we get stalling and hesitation. We used to overhaul carburetors but since we have not had carburetors in the last 20 years that skill has been lost and most guys now install a rebuilt. Draining and replacing the fuel would not hurt but will not help the problem at this time. Good luck, it is a nice car and should give more than 100,000 miles of trouble free service.
Brad