Needs some advice, 350 engine with HEI.
Cruising along the highway at 60 miles an
hour my car just totally died. Pulled over and tried to restart, battery dead. OK. figured the alternator went. Well after sitting for a while the car cranked a little bit. So I started poking around under the hood checked for loose connections and noticed the distributor was loose. So I turned it a little and the car cranked over and started. I set the timing by ear and got home. I timed the car, tightened the distributor and all seemed well. That was yesterday, today I go to start the car and its dead as a door nail. Turned out to be a shorted voltage regulator. I changed the regulator and all seemed fine. Then I noticed the gen light came on with the car off. I assumed I fried the diodes in the alternator and changed it and bought a new battery just to be safe. All seems back to normal. Hear's my question, why did the car die in the first place? Was it most likely related to the battery going dead and not the distributor?
Why did the battery come back to life after sitting. I've lost confidence in the car and don't want to get stuck again. I use this car on weekends with my family and a two year old, and wife, crying on the side of the highway is not a good thing. Is there anything else I should check or look at?

Thanks in Advance,
Charlie

Any time an electrical component shorts out, it gives the electrical potential of the battery an easy path for conductivity. This means all the available voltage to power the car goes to ground through one point, in this case, through the regulator. This takes all the power away from the rest of the vehicle, thus the reason the car just quit. The distributor being loose and turning was probably a coincidence.