An aerospace company built a capacitive discharge ignition in 1964, and this one never made it onto an engine.

Straza Industries of El Cajon, California spent the 1950s and '60s building fabricated metal assemblies for the aeronautical and defense business. Somewhere in the middle of that, somebody decided the hot rod market needed a solid-state ignition — and the Blitzfunken is what came out. A sealed maroon box, four terminals, a fist gripping a lightning bolt on the label, and a capacitive discharge system running transistors, diodes, silicon rectifiers and an SCR at a time when most performance ignitions were still points-and-a-hotter-coil. This predates the era when capacitive discharge ignitions became commonplace in the performance aftermarket.

The literature that comes with it is half the appeal. Straza's brochure — "power to burn," "proved on dyno . . . and strip" — reports dyno comparison testing by Les Ritchey of Performance Associates, corroborating cold-room and dyno work with Continental Motors in Muskegon, and a first field outing on a 1964 A/FX Ford 427 at Pomona in December 1963, where the brochure claims trap speed went from 120.1 to 124.3 mph and ET dropped from 12.16 to 11.67. Those are Straza's numbers, printed in 1964, and they're reproduced here as the historical document they are.

🔧 Features and Details

• ⚡ Straza Blitzfunken Model 12N2 capacitive discharge electronic ignition, Straza Industries, El Cajon, California
• 📦 New old stock — never installed. Complete with the original outer box and the full paper set: installation instructions and the illustrated sales brochure
• 🔨 All solid state — transistors, diodes, silicon rectifiers and a silicon controlled rectifier. No vacuum tubes
• 🔒 Hermetically sealed housing — factory seals appear intact and undisturbed, sealed against moisture, dirt, oil and fuel
• 📐 Unit measures approximately 5-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 3-1/2 inches
• 🏁 Four-terminal hookup: BAT.+ / PTS. / CL− / CL+, wiring diagrams included in the instruction sheet
• 🎨 Original maroon enamel paint with the intact Straza fist-and-bolt label
• 📖 An uncommon piece of 1960s California speed equipment that rarely surfaces today.

🚗 Known Fitment and Applications

This unit is universal by vehicle and specific by electrical system. Straza's own instructions define it:

• 12-volt NEGATIVE ground systems only. The instruction sheet is blunt about it: any other type of electrical system will damage the unit. This will not work on a 6-volt car and will not work on a positive-ground car.
• All makes and models of automobiles, and engine-driven equipment, running a conventional or transistor points ignition
• Requires a 12-volt coil of the type using an external ballast resistor. Transistor coils are not to be used
• Points, cap, rotor, plugs and high-tension leads should be in good order — this amplifies an ignition system, it doesn't replace maintenance
• Muscle-car era, gasser, drag and street applications; equally at home on a shelf or in a collection of vintage speed equipment

Additional applications beyond those listed may exist.

✅ Condition Summary

New old stock and, by every appearance, never installed — the unit shows no mounting wear, no wiring marks on the terminals, and all factory seals are intact and undisturbed. The maroon enamel is original paint, carrying light handling scratches consistent with sixty years of shelf storage. The unit has not been tested and is sold as-is; it's a sixty-year-old electronic assembly and anyone intending to actually run it should expect to have the capacitors evaluated first. The original outer box is complete but worn, with edge damage and a torn corner as shown, and the paper instructions and brochure are intact with fold lines and light staining. Please see all photos.

📋 Buyer Notes

Every photo is part of the description here, especially the shots of the instruction sheet and the box — read them before you buy, because they define exactly what this unit needs to run. Confirming that your car's electrical system matches the 12-volt negative-ground, external-ballast requirement is the buyer's responsibility, and other applications may exist beyond those described. Sold as-is and untested. Questions are welcome before purchase and I'll answer anything I can. If early speed equipment is your thing, take a look through the rest of the store. There's a lot more where this came from.