Total loss of electrics 1948 TC

[pschmidt4]

After showing my 1 yr. restored '48 TC at a local meet the car wouldn't start and nothing electrical worked with or without the ignition on. The starter worked strongly since it is directly wired to the battery and showed that the battery was well charged.
All the accessible wires, including behind the dash seemed to be well connected.

Poking around the voltage regulator and replacing a fuse (that wasn't blown) ultimately brought the electrics to life but what exactly was the culprit wasn't obvious. I got the car home, and drove it the next day to another show, foolishly believeing that the problem was solved. However, again after the show the electrics were lifeless. This time nothing helped and the car rode home atop a tow truck. If I had simply brought a jumper wire I'm sure that I could have started and driven home by powering the fuel pump and distributor. But that's in hindsight.

Any thoughts on where to look for fixing my trouble?

[John Cockrem]

Have you checked that the power from the battery to the ammeter is OK and the ammeter isn't faulty i.e. the juice is not getting through. Remember everything goes through the ammeter.

[Ray White]

You may have a broken wire or bad contact at the voltage regulator. A or A1 .

[pschmidt4]

John - When the car did finally run I think the ammeter was showing proper response. But I will check that the connections are secure.

Ray - I will focus on the voltage regulator connections. Thanks.

[Steve Simmons]

Connections at the ignition switch are notorious for loosening. Also, I once rescued a guy on the side of the road who lost all power. The culprit was the copper contact on the back side of the control box on one of the A circuits. It had broken away. We moved the wires from that terminal to the next and the car fired right back up.

[pschmidt4]

Steve. Nice catch for the guy on the side of the road. I will check the box for such problems. I have now found that several wires to and from the ignition switch are fried as well as the low beam wire from the hi/lo and horn switch. I guess I have more trouble than just a loose connection.

[pschmidt4]

Update. I found, as suggested by Steve, that the wire hold down screw for the IG terminal on the ignition switch was loose, which probably explains the non-starting/running problem. The firied wires associated with the headlights appear to be a separate problem that appeared about the same time as the ignition failure. In any case I have gone through the whole wiring loom and have done what I can. I'm now waiting for a new dimmer/horn switch to complete the repair.