To be clear - you have a carb engine with a mechanical fuel pump? If that is the case, you should have fuel in the fuel bowl if it is pumping at all. I don't know what sort of carbs you have - maybe Strombergs or SUs. If so, I don't know how you would look at the fuel level in the bowls. But if they do have accelerator pumps, as in a conventional carburetor, you should see gas being squirted with the engine not running, and the air cleaner off, by actuating the throttle.
My SAAB 99 Manual does not cover carbs, but I have a Chevrolet manual that does cover fuel pump testing. Basically what it says to do is to remove a fuel line going to the carb, attach a hose and see if you can pump some gas into a container. You should get one pint in less than 40 seconds.
If it does this, you can continue testing by hooking up a pressure gauge of some sort at the same point. With the engine running on fuel in the carb bowls, you should get about 2 to 5 pounds of fuel pressure at idle.
Be safe. Don't suck on fuel lines. Have a fire extinguisher at the ready during testing. Don't allow fuel to spill.
I don't know if you have gasoline with added ethanol where you are, but it can be destructive to rubber parts in old cars.
