I've always wondered how much people are stretching the truth when they talk about throwing some fuel and a battery into a 'barn find' and it fires up first go. They probably neglect to mention the can of 'Start ya Bastard'.
Yes mine is like the OP's and others, hard to start if left sitting for a week or more, but as Tony said, at least the oil pressure is up before she fires.
Mate used to own a wrecking yard. Had been around since the 30s
Quite often we would start something up that had been sitting for 20 plus years out in the weather.
We never used start ya bastard. Ever. Or any other ether products.
Splash of fuel down the carby and a fresh battery. Fire it up.
The stink from old fuel was bad.
Ether based stuff was only ever used on diesels.
I got caught about to use some aerostart once, but got a kick in the butt before I even got a whiff in.