Sounds like one or more of the Autolites are bad right out of the box.

 

I've always just used a feeler gauge and the old school spark gappers, which just kind of look like a little T piece that fits onto the top of the spark plug, and allows you to pry it back.

However, I thought that the s197s had to have special spark plugs, though, since they were coil-on plugs? Or am I wrong?

 

Well, coil-on-plug has nothing to do with spark plug design. But, this car does have special spark plugs. The ground electrode is a "u" shape that connects at both ends. It doesn't have the single overhang of a normal spark plug. Thus, a traditional gapping tool doesn't work on them.

 

They are also really long in comparrison to a normal plug

 

it might be a tune issue
a colder plug in the same conditions should burn less fuel and since some are using the H0 plugs I guess maybethe righttune might fix it (I might be wrong but sounds good to me)