[Tommy]

My limited experiece with the ballast resistor on my old Corvette is that its purpose is to reduce the voltage to prevent burning up some components (e.g., points and coil). If the resistor failed so the resistance increased significantly, it could reduce the current available to the ignition system and cause the symptoms you described. If you can check the voltage on both sides of the resistor to verify that it is about 12v going in and about 8-9v coming out, it is probably ok. If the voltage coming out is significantly less, that may be your problem.