need info. on 1937 chevy coil

hello, i have a 37 chevy coupe and it has no spark.its original, the coil has a cable looking thing that goes to the key switch instead of a wire? i've never seen anything like it. can someone tell me what i got here? is the cable removable from the back of the switch? can you replace this coil with a newer one? i'm thinking the coil is bad? i have spark to the points,but not at the plug. thanx for any help

 

That is pretty odd. Must be some kind of remote switch under the cover on the coil?

 

It's an anti-theft device which was stock on the '37 and perhaps before that. If you twist the cap on the coil, the cap will come off and there's a wire, which goes from the coil thru the armored cable and goes into the ignition switch.

 

It's called an electrolock. Usually what happens is the wire gets frayed inside the cable and shorts out the only way to replace the wire is take the switch apart from the back side removing the key cylinder will do nothing. You can use a regular 6 volt coil and kinda rig it to work.

 

hey all, thanx for the replies. i did figure out how to use a regular coil. that thing had me stumped for a minute. i just recently got this car,i'm kinda learning as i go!