Had this happen to me on a car that had the coil in a horizontal position.  It was a oil filled coil and after about 5 years was doing exactly what you described.  Went to a epoxy filled coil and haven't had this problem again.

Had a similar problem with my 82 F600 ramp truck with a duraspark ignition, would run great for weeks and then all of a sudden cut out at the most in oppertune time. Found it was a wire in the main harness had a slight chafe in it and would short out the wire to the distributor on a little sharp edge of the inner fender, drove me nuts till I found it.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

I was thinking along the lines of the resetable fuse. There are a few under the dash and pretty much all power flows through them.
If it's faulty then it will do exactly as your describing, especially considering the starting issue loosing all power and the lose of ignition etc.. how would a coil wire cut the power to the started solenoid?
So these fuses work like a relay yet when over heated by to much energy the contacts pri apart and wammo no more power and then they cool and magically the power returns. So even if you haven't overloaded it with extra goodies, it may just be needing replacement.

Is this by chance a 3 speed manual with overdrive ? If so there is a ignition interrupt feature when you floor the accelerator pedal. This allows the tranny to drop out of OD for a passing gear of sorts. This is controlled by the switch that is under the accelerator pedal , I have seen the switches go bad in the past.

Pete

It was the coil to distributor wire. It had folded and made a bend right before the end connected to the coil. Although you couldn't see it, that's where the interruption was. Straighten it out, and it would fire up again. Replaced the wire (also a couple others) and we're good to go. Thank you all for your helpful advice.

I'm thinking it might be the ballast resistor.


~DJ~ AKA "Bleach"
1956 Ford Fairlane Town Sedan 30K original miles

had the same problem on a 73 bronco  it would stop  wait a bit then it would re start replaced the ignition switch end of problem

Can't help with the starting issue, bt as Charlie told you, try another coil. Often the coils will overheat, short out and cease to function. then as they cool off they will work again. I've also had it happen to me.

Frank/Rebop

Bristol, In ( by Elkhart) 

To trouble shoot this you could HOT WIRE your ignition. BUT BE CAREFUL. This by passes the neutral safety switch and the car will start in ANY GEAR not just park or neutral. Run a wire with a quick way to disconnect ( alligator clip ) from the coil + or _ depending on 12 volt positive or negative ground to the battery HOT side and eliminate the ignition switch and ballast from the ignition system. CAR IN PARK OR NEUTRAL use a remote starter to start the car. Take it for a short drive and see what happens. More info is on GOOGLE if you need it. Pete

One other thing to point out...often when this problem occurs, you turn the ignition key to start and you get no cranking, but instead hear only a single click. Return the key back and try again...it cranks like normal.