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i am getting a gut feeling it may be the coil it is the old type with the cable coming into the back its been on the car for as long as i have owned it 30 years..went out to touch it and it was very warm

ive read other blogs about bad coil or coils going bad. They can stop working if they overheat. and will start working again when they have coooled down.. another indication of a bad coil are misses and BACKFIRES...WHICH IT DID ONCE (Backfire a big one) before I began the test drive last night

i hve a guy feeling it may be the coil..ive read several blogs and bad coils or hard starting are indicative of a coil going bad..this coil is the old type with the cable going to the back of the coil it has been on my car for 30 years...I touched it an hour ago and it was warm to touch. the symptoms of coils going bad are hard starting ( which it has in the past..and mises and backfires...Well there was a rough idle last night before the test drive and then a Big Backfire before I started the test down the road

The old coils do exhibit symptoms as you described as do condensers getting ready to fail. Coils do frequently recover when cool only to fail again when hot. Condensers usually stay failed once they go.

It also wouldn't hurt to run a burnishing tool thru the points as those could have picked up a layer of oxidation or oil vapor film over the period of inactivity. The increased resistance and poor connection caused by oxidation will exhibit in all sorts of ways.

thks HH 56 will check those things tomorrow along with plugs etc...going to napa and get a new condsor and coil

okay Im back to Packard been busy the last week and 1/2

I have a gut feeiing that it may be the coil going bad.. I had accidently left car ign in on position for an hour...when i noticed it I turned it off. then acciedntly it reached into the eng compart and tourched the coil it was extremely warm. went to net for symptoms of a bad coil or coil going bad ...it said tis take a look at this
http://www.doityourself.com/stry/6-symptoms-of-ignition-coil-failure

all of these things happened

It may not be the coil although it wouldn't hurt to have a spare. Check the points for blueing or burning. At the least run a points file or burnisher thru them. If the points were closed all the time the ign sw was on the current to the coil would have been flowing thru and chances are they overheated and developed a coating.

Many years ago I managed to mess up the points on a brand X car while sitting and listening to the radio. While the car didn't make me walk it started and ran like crap for several miles until enough point action managed to work thru the oxidation. 6v cars are much less forgiving when it comes to ign issues.

thanks much...wil do that the points not tomorow as the concours d elegancia d america in Detroit

okay HH back to 115

looked at plugs a little sooty but not bad indicates a rich setting..

fired her up again with a little ether belive it or not she ran for about a minute before dying..that means she was geting fuel for bit before she died... we know tht the pump in working ( fuel from pump to carb as it was pissing when tested a few weeks ago..

my suspicion is that it is a carb issue maybe sticking float o needle.. your thoughts ( fuel starvation)

or perhaps debris in the carb