I like the pertronix, I put one in my 55 Chevy a few months ago and it's a definite improvement. But if I had the room I would go with a HEI distributor, I put one in my F100 about 8 years ago and it's chugging along like a champ ever since. Electronic ignition is great, and when time comes for a tune up, any autoparts store in America ought to have a GM HEI module and dist cap, etc. I did check on ebay for you, it ain't cheap. I can get one for a small block Ford for $40 but for an inline 6 you're looking at $130 plus another 10 for shipping.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/FORD-INLINE-SIX-STRAIGHT-6-CYL-CYLINDER-144-170-200-HEI-DISTRIBUTOR-6527-BLUE-/350921096436?hash=item51b486fcf4&vxp=mtr

 

To be fair points and condenser work fine, though they do require adjustment and service every, say 8 or 10 thousand miles. If the distributor itself is defective/worn then points will be impossible to use.

The stories here get told and retold over the years and by the sound of it today, nobody actually drove anywhere back in the day, because their engine wouldn't start.

 

Ha ha. Good "point" Ted. I remember back in the day a tune up lasted about a year with normal driving. Before pertronix. I blame current aftermarket parts quality and not putting a dab of grease on the new point's rubbing block. Which is why I started a thread this morning on it and have posted Ford Motorcraft's part numbers for V8 single point Dizzy's points and condensers Zillions of times. If anybody will still be putting out quality points and condensers it would be Ford. Yes, they are still available.
V8 single point Dizzy points: B8Q12171A. (DP12)
" " " " condenser: C9AZ12300A. (DC13A)

 

Exactly. Points and condenser is run fine, when they are quality products and maintenance is kept up. But the aftermarket Chinese crap nowdays doesn't work very long and that is why nobody runs them anymore

 

Old timer advise on condensers. If the one in there works *don't* change it out.
A new condenser my be bad right out of the box or fail soon. I run mine until it fails. Which, sometimes, is years before failure.
Just my opinion based on 40 years of running points.

 

When these vehicles were new, the points worked fine. 45 years of wear and tear later (give or take), the distributors and points plate are probably worn and sloppy, making it difficult to keep accurate settings on the points or to make them last. --this is where most people's points distributors are today. If you're going to pull a worn, sloppy points distributor to replace it with a new one, it only makes sense to install an electronic ignition distributor, while you have the old points distributor out.

Electronic ignitions operates off of a Hall effect trigger --no parts that actually make physical contact with each other so, there's no contact wear on them. Spark timing is also much more accurate.

You can run a hotter spark with a wider plug gap with electronic too.

I've had vehicles with points (my '69 F100 currently has points) and I've had vehicles with electronic ignitions. I've gotten FAR BETTER service life, reliability and smoother running engines from electronic ignitions than with points ignitions.

....if points were the cat's pajamas, they'd still be in service on vehicles produced today. Time moved on and so did technology.

I suppose it's just a matter of preference or, at least what you're willing to put up with.