Since we’re on distributor memories, here’s one that might be relevant if all else fails.
I got home late one night with the car (sorry) misfiring and banging and generally not too good. The distributor cap had cracked. Fortunately in my “may come in useful” drawer there was a similar cap, and I got the car running ready for work the next day. Several days later the engine stopped and wouldn’t start. Suspecting the points had closed up, I took the cap off the distributor and flicked the points. Fortunately I hadn’t switched off the ignition and there was a flash across the cap (it was dark). When I repeated it, I could see a little lightning strike across the contacts inside the cap. The cap hadn’t been cleaned properly, and tiny pieces of wire wool had magnetised, and formed a chain between the contacts, shorting it out. I bet that’s not in a Haynes Manual! J
H