I took my '55 Bird out for a ride last weekend.   All went great for about 10 miles.  Out of nowhere the motor started missing and wouldn't idle.  It would rev fine for a few times then die.  At first I thought I had a fuel problem.  Popping off the air cleaner I could see I had plenty of fuel out of the accelerator pump. The motor was only running about 180 degrees.  I took the ignition cap off to see if I had  a bad rotor or a wire off.  All looked good.  I called AAA for a tow home.  While I was waiting, I messed around with the points and it started running great again. It ran great for about 2 blocks and quit again.  The first morning back in my garage the engine still missed.  I installed new points and condenser and it started immediately and has been running great since.  It made me nervous that I didn't find anything obviously wrong.

My engine is a stock '55 292 with a rebuilt '57 distributor from Macs Auto Parts.  Can a new condenser and points fail in less than 100 miles?