Electrical help on a '56

One more thing to look for. Although this is rare, I have found it a few times in my life. What happens sometimes is the battery post gets a break in it inside the case of the battery, where it attaches to the plates. The crack is very small, and will still make good contact most of the time. But when you put a heavy load on it IE: starter motor, it opens and you get next to nothing. A word of caution: I was working on a co-workers car in the parking lot that was showing odd symptoms (starts fine one time, nothing the next) I suspected a broken post, so being a genius, I tapped gently on the post and pushed down on it while the owner tried to start it. Apparently it sparked inside and ignited the hydrogen gas that builds up in a wet-cell battery. The battery exploded, blowing the caps straight up into my face and cutting me near the eyebrow. I immediatly ran for the latrine and started washing the acid and blood off. It was almost funny later, but not at the time.