1960 Pontiac Catalina

Hi All,

I have a 1960 Pontiac Catalina 4 dr sedan passed down from my grandpa. When I drive the vehicle, I will lose electrical in the dash like radio, fuel gauge, and lose my brake lights signals, and headlights. If I turn the car off, it sometimes comes back. Its sporadic. I really don't know where to start troubleshooting this, but hoping you all can point me in the right direction. I have a voltameter handy and the original service manual with wiring diagram.

Car runs fine mechanically, but losing electrical randomly. I did replace the generator, as the battery was not charging and seemed to fix that. The gauge in the dash showing the generator charging does work all the time, even when I lose power elsewhere.

Please keep in mind I have little electrical experience and may have to speak in layman terms to me.

Thank you all for any help you can provide. Both my grandfather and father have passed away and left it for me. I just can't drive it in it's current state in fear of causing an accident. I still have the original invoice with a picture of grandpa the day he bought it, so very important to me.

Picture below after my dad and I fully restored it. Changed the color from the original off white though.

Best regards,

Dale

For what it's worth, the first thing to do with something like that would be to refer to a wiring diagram. See what feeds those circuits. My guess on something that old is a feed from the ignition switch that may be failing. Those cars have very little in the way of electrical components. Ignition switch problem, faulty/loose ground corrosion at fuse block/bad connection would be some good places to start. Hope this helps.