Strange happenings

Car has been running great. Drove from NJ to the east end of Long Island yesterday with no issues(145 miles). Car sat for about an hour then off to dinner. As I started down the street still in first gear, car sputtered, gas pedal unresponsive then car 'died'. All electrical cut off and alternator light came on... I coasted to a stop. I pulled over and visually checked connections, belt, plugs etc. Restarted car...no issues started to drive and car ran fine for the rest of the evening. Zip,nada no issues, great acceleration etc. After dinner leaving restaurant.... Same thing. Car starts warms up... Go to pull out and car sputters, all electrical cuts off, engine dies....coast to stop. Wait a few minutes....decide one more try. ..... Got home no problem. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

You may want to check battery connections, especially the ground. Sounds like a loose connection.

could be that nefarious wire that runs from distributor to top of coil...seems to come loose from time to time and car will just stop.

Possibly a bad ignition switch.......Loose wire on the ALT. ......... Faulty ground connection (on the battery or battery cable......Just a thought...

Everything said above is valid and should be looked at. A few other things to check:
Check your rear bumper. Yes, I am dead serious. Grab it and wiggle it up and down and see if it is loose.
Check the main 12v hot "in" fuse (refer to pages 33-34 of your manual). Don't just look at it. Pull it and check the end caps to make sure they are tight.
Not only should you make sure the battery cables are tight, check the crimp connection on the battery cables and make sure they are tight.

Also, a little more info may help. When you say it loses electrical power and dies, did the headlights go off? The reason I ask is if you lost complete electrical power the idiot lights on the dash would not come on. Your description of the problem, excluding "all electrical cut off", sounds like no fuel delivery. Do you have an electric fuel pump or mechanical?

Feel free to shoot me an e-mail or call the shop on Monday if you need. Also, please let me know your chassis number so I can pull the build file for reference.

Just in case y'all are wondrin' what Carey's been drinkin', there's a large ground connection at one of the bumper bracket bolts.

I WAS wondering about that "bumper business"..........

First let me say thank you for all the suggestions. I checked all the connections, caps, wires and of course the rear bumper. I am not a hundred percent sure but it appears to have been the wire running from the coil into the side of the distributor. It seemed a little loose and with a slight push.... settled in. Car started fine and had no issues on twenty minute run. As I said I can't be sure as I wiggled and prodded a lot of connections but I learned valuable lesson of checking your connections. It was just bizarre....sputtering engine combined with shut down electrical. Carey...will email you everything Monday. Thanks again!!!

condenser was grounding (basically voiding the points).

so your coil was not getting a ground. if you left your ignition on - your coil would have fried.

condenser = $7

Check the connections at your main fuse block and the key switch.. Oh and the ALT / Gen / regulator connections .. Something is lose!