I was heading back from an event when the Tbird cut out. On the side of the road I isolated it down to missing spark. Embarrassingly it came home on a flat bed. I had a quick look but it was getting late so I left it until the next day. When checking it the next day I discovered it had spark again so turned the key and it fired up. 
I'm thinking coil failing when hot. What is the consensus out there on what went wrong? 

.Might be the condenser -changed it lately?  Lot of bad ones out there. They fail when they get hot


54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Could just be a loose wire , check the connections

All of the above is good advice. I once found the wire that attaches the condenser had separated inside of casing. I fought it for hours until I decided to change the condenser and the wire fell out. Good luck.

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

If you're still on points Ian, quite possibly the condenser... Ask Rick all about them....



"Came too close to dying to stop living now!"

It is possible that the ballast resistor went "open" or a wire connection to it was loose.  When that happens you have spark when cranking, but the engine dies as soon as you let off the key.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

I know that coils can fail when warm but come good again when they cool down. Can condensers do the same? It was fine the next day. 
It's not resistor as I bypassed that before I called for a tow.

Yes, but eventually it will totally fail 





54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

My 56 Victoria with the 292 did the same thing two summers ago. While driving along normally it suddenly backfired and bucked and fired intermittently and then died. I coasted to the side of the road. It cranked but wouldn't fire. My friend rescued me with his trailor and yes it is particularly embarrassing to be seen loading a vintage car onto a trailor on the side of a busy street. Of course the next morning while cold it started up and I thought maybe water in the gas. Put in some dry gas and broke down a mile from home again. To make a long story short, after I dropped and drained the gas tank, rebuilt the carburator, tried a different coil and fuel  pump, It broke down again away from home. I coasted into a church parking lot . I popped the hood and decided to check for loose wires. Found none and then looked at the distributer which I had just bought as a remanufactured unit from O'Reilleys and installed it about a month earlier. I pulled the cap off and noticed that the condenser wire where it bolts to the side if the points seemed to be sticking up rather high. I pushed down on it and it slid down to where it belonged. The tightening nut seemed to be only finger tight. The car fired right up and got me back home. Apon close examination when I was at home, I discivered that Whomever assembled that distributer, probably at Cardone had smeared a blue lube on the distributer cam and must have had some of that lube on his fingers when he connected the condenser wire to the side of the points. I cleaned the connection dry and tightened the 3/8 nut tight . Problem solved. You just never expect new parts to be defective, 

Electrical problems are the worst. Especially when it becomes a marathon trying to find what's wrong. Often found only after throwing parts at it for a day or so.



Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire