[Roadtrip]

Condenser? Do you mean a ballast resistor? Is it a ceramic looking square thing with two screw terminals?

It sounds as if the PO did some "customization" (to put it politely).

You can determin which wire comes from where by doing a little logical analysis.

Disconnect the wires. Do not allow any to ground themselves.

Turn the ignition key to "on." check which wires are hot. The only one that should be hot is the wire coming from the fuseblock and should go to the + terminal of the coil.

Next go to the other wire coming from the firewall that wasn't hot. Crank the engine and see if it goes "hot" while cranking the starter motor. That wire should go to the ballast resistor.

Next check the (what should be) the black wire from the - terminal of the coil to the bottom of the distributor. Make sure it's got good ends, good connections and is clean and does not have damaged insulation.

Did you check the coil resistance yet?