Do I need a choke?

I ran a 700 double pumper with no choke on the 340 in my '65 Barracuda for about 40 years. Starting procedure was to simultaneously turn the key while giving the throttle a few pumps, thus effectively using the accelerator pumps to richen the mixture in the absence of a choke. Your air gap manifold will probably make a little difference in cold weather warmup compared to my Edelbrock LD 340, but starting a cold engine shouldn't be any different. I had the Direct Connection blue box ignition on mine, but a more contemporary setup might give you that little edge in a stronger spark that would help with the poor fuel atomization in cold conditions.