Engine sputters, throttle malfunctions, brakes engage, all in 2nd gear.

Hey guys,

Drove the '67 200 i6 today and noticed the car didn't like our hill so much. My fuel gauge doesn't work (always reads empty- fuel sending unit?) so I figure I might be getting low on gas and that's what I was feeling.

Get a tank full of gas, and stall rolling into a stop sign. Blame myself, and continue to drive back home and a problem I haven't encountered yet occurs: when shifting into 2nd the accelerator stops accelerating and the car behaves as though its slamming on the brakes. The car doesn't stall, but the gas pedal won't do its job unless I press on it rapidly until it "catches" so to speak. Not so much a gradual build up as much as a "oh, I'll work now."

Start going for another hundred yards or so then it does it again. Strangely, the radio cuts to static at the exact same time.

Going uphill is when it's most noticeable. At its most extreme, the vehicle will slam on the brakes but once it gets going there's a phase of violent sputtering which felt a bit like lugging when you shift too early, but way more intense.

I don't know if it's one thing or a combination of several.

The fuel filter is my first thought, because of the needing of the gas pedal to be pumped- maybe I have a weak stream into the carb? Accelerator pump would mean it doesn't pump anything at all, right? But, either of those doesn't explain the hard engine braking, could that be a spark plug? Maybe could vapor lock make the car behave like that? The engine had been running about five / ten minutes when it happened, but again, I've never noticed a problem. The radio I feel is another clue, but I'm not sure how unless the alternator is affected by the engine's nonsense.

I was looking into replacing spark plugs and wires, and upgrading to a 2bbl weber progressive carb / running new fuel lines and filters in the future anyway, but if anyone could save me the headache of doing all that and still having the issue I'd be very grateful.