I have just seen a strange distributor on a 1980 Lincoln. The rotor has two points and the cap has an X shaped piece of brass inside. The two rotor points are at different levels in the distributor and are 180 degrees apart. The numbering around the top is 15786342. It is evidently designed for a 351 or 302HO engine with 13726548 firing order. Evidently it works like two 4-cylinder distributors one to fire 1,7,6 and 4 and another to fire 3,2,5 and 8.
It seems well designed to prevent cross firing, but it is confusing since the wires don't appear to be in the correct firing order when you look at it. There are no points or electronic pickup in the distributor. Instead there is a crankshaft sensor.
The problem is that this distributor had been put on a 302 with 15426378 firing order. The engine was running on only 4 cylinders until the wires were put in the order, 13486572.
My mechanic neighbor has been in business 40 years and he said he'd never seen a distributor like this. What do you call this thing?

 

Sounds like a small diameter distributor for tight locations where there isn't space to get enough distance between terminals. Check with a Ford dealer and see if they have a listing. It should not be too hard to figure out the order to put the wires in. If you have the space could a standard distributor be used?