It's a coil

Heading out on the short journey from our house to my brother-in-law's, to the car's embarrassment and mine we ground to a halt after less than half a mile.  Thinking that my expertise was now suffice to deal with the problem, I opened the bonnet, checked the fuel lines and examined the wires.  However, no luck - it wouldn't restart.  So, swallowing my pride, called Andy and cried 'Help!'.  After he had re-checked what I had already looked at, he pulled out the high-tension cable from the coil and found it was both loose and corroded, as was the inside of the coil.  Application of some black insulating tape allowed BSG 8 to get moving again.  However, that was only a temporary fix and this weekend I installed a new coil from Vintage Car Parts.  This will need further work, though, since we're not happy with how it's positioned (it would be better sitting vertically) and we need to install a new high-tension lead.