So the 1960 is supposed to have a "calibrated resistance" wire that replaces a ballast resistor. The shop manual describes it as a "stainless wire, plastic coated, and covered with a glass braid." Figure 12-47 in the shop manual shows it. I am not seeing such a wire in my car, and there is no ballast resistor. Car is very low mileage and has not been messed around with that I can tell.

Any help is appreciated.

That is called a "fusible link wire" by some shop manuals and that original wire on my Catalina and El Camino did not have the appearance that you describe. Yours could have been replaced by the modern equivalent.

Rick

The fusible link is most likely found either near the starter solenoid or near the generator/alternator.

A ballast resistor will be tied between the ignition switch and the positive side of the coil. If there is not a special resistance wire, is there a ceramic block mounted to the firewall? Some cars might have this instead.

Are there 2 wires going to the positive side of the coil? If so one in the resistor wire supply 7-8 volts to the coil for normal operations, the other wire comes from the starter, it supplies 12 volts (or full battery charge what ever that happens to be) to boost the ignition during the starting cycle. The wire from the starter will be just a regular wire with little resistance. It is usually connected to the positive terminal of the starter solenoid.

Please see attached images related to this:

From a diagram (12-47) in the shop manual: a "calibrated resistance wire" (as described in original post) connects directly to the positive coil post along with ignition wire #2

From the wiring diagram in the manual: a resistance wire tied into ignition wire #2, which then connects to the coil. This tie-in could be somewhere that I can't see. However, there is no wire matching the description of the calibrated resistance wire at the ignition.

The shop manual states that there is no ballast resistor used on this car.

????