Timing and vacuum

[Thunderduckie]

Timing has been set with a NuRex timing wrench (not sure if I trust it yet), points are gaped at .025 and the cap is gaped to .020. Motor is currently running between 190 and 200 even while driving. We put a vacuum gauge on the truck today and only made 16 pounds with the spark advance all the way up. When we pulled the spark advance all the way down we made 19 pounds. Everything I have read says that 16 pounds of vacuum indicates that the timing is to far advanced and this will cause an overheat.
Just so everyone knows, I have use the method posted on YouTube by Jack Baum to time our cars because it always works VERY well. But, Dad saw this wrench and he SWEARS its so much more accurate.
I cannot find anything concrete online to tell me what kind of vacuum a Model A should make so I was hoping that you guys could point me in the right direction. Also, are these wrenches really that great or am I just to set in my ways of the old school mechanic (lol.....I'm 39)

One more thing I was wondering about. Dad said that he read that the spark advance is supposed to be about 3/4 down for daily driving but I thought that it was supposed to be about 1/4 down until you pulled a hill and then advanced it as needed. Can someone please tell me which is correct?

Thanks in advance for any help guys. Attached are a few pictures of our cars. Both have been completely restored by us. Dad and I have been bitten really hard by the "A Bug" as we call it and we want to make sure that we don't mistakenly destroy a part of history.