The head flow would be a benefit, even with the choke point. Pretty much every engine that comes off the engine dyno gets choked down in one way or the other. We spend time tweaking the combo on the engine dyno, then get the engine in the car and spend time curbing the restrictions.
I built a 510hp/510 lb-ft 427 that utilized ported factory C3 LR heads that flowed about 280-290 cfm. It had a factory C3 2x4 intake that was ported as well. With some creative exhaust and underhood work, you could take full advantage of it. IMO, if you found some guys that knew what they were doing with the exhaust, you could end up in a better situation than the guys with the sidepipe cars. The sidepipes in a lot of replicas are so restrictive that you can't roll a golf-ball through them and I've seen guys gain 100 hp on a chassis dyno by pulling the sidepipes off between pulls.
Torque is good on a street engine, but you don't want to end up with a truck engine either.
