Stupid question of the month

[_Sheffjs_]

Ok, somehow I will get grief for this but here goes, why is there a fuel and air rail?  Why not a split and hose to each?   

[Pete]

Ease of original assembly on a production line??

[rug_burn]

   Well, you gotta feed all the carbs, and they need to be stacked like they are in order to be right above each cylinder, which lends itself to the fuel rail setup. 
   Yes, the designer could have run hoses to each carb individually.   But, this would add to the profusion of hoses already existing in the carb area:   the 6 drain lines, the 6 vapor recovery lines, those 2 big hoses going to the air injection smog deal, and the several odd vacuum hose takeoffs and vent lines.   
   And fuel hoses are one of those things you really want to get right since if they leak, you could have a real disaster... So the engineers went with the heavier duty rail setup, it seems.