[Formulajones]

Is there really a need for a car to start fast? Define a slow start.

Cranking for 3-5 seconds after it's sat for a week does not sound unacceptable to me. Certainly not excessive by any means. In fact that's pretty normal. I think people have gotten spoiled with EFI

Now if you're sitting for just an hour and your cranking for several seconds then you likely have an issue to address and a reason for question. Putting a pump at the back of the car is just a bandaid for the root cause. It'll mask the problem but it's not "fixing" it.

It's likely draining out of the carb somehow, or you have an excessive heat problem. There is no way what so ever all the fuel in the float bowl will just evaporated into the atmosphere on its own in just an hour. Not gonna happen.
Now if it's hotter than it should be percolating or something then I'd dive into that area.
The fuel in the float bowl is leaving some other way.

Think about it this way. You can have dry lines, a mechanical fuel pump that's dry or bled off. None of that matters if there is fuel in the float bowl. The engine will start and run with just fuel in the bowl and actually idle for a good 30 seconds or more. It doesn't even need fuel pressure. That's more than enough time for the pump to grab fuel and fill things up.