Noob mistakes with your car

First engine rebuild, 340 in a '72 Challenger(a lifetime ago). Got it all back together and couldn't it get it to fire. Cranked and cranked and cranked. nothing. Gas in the carb, nothing. Had several people smarter than me (pretty much everybody) look at it and say I must have assembled it wrong. 2 teardown and reassembles later, a good ol' boy from down street stopped by, closed the choke flap and she fired right off.. Yep, I was a dumb noob...