Very sad to read of fuel exhaustion accidents.
However, looking at how dramatically the degree of leaning affects fuel flow, and how inaccurate analog fuel flow gauges are (they really only measure fuel pressure) I cannot imagine doing long trips without an accurate fuel totaliser, and a means of precisely setting up the engine(s) for peak, LOP, etc.
There is about a 10% difference between 100F ROP and peak/LOP, which is a LOT. There is about a 30% difference between full-rich (which is how most "old trained" pilots fly) and peak/LOP which is a massive difference.
And with a plane that was so far out of maintenance it is pretty unlikely that the instrumentation (that was there) was much good, either.