66 Valiant - stranded on road trip

Did you check the voltage limiter on the back side of the dash? If you smelled or saw smoke inside the car, it could have been the voltage limiter. I had a voltage limiter fry on my 67 Coronet and replaced it, but the voltage regulator was fried on the firewall as well, and that then fried the new voltage limiter. The alternator was over charging and it got fried too. I had continuing problems until I replaced all three components at the same time (voltage limiter, voltage regulator, and alternator). As I recall, I also replaced the ballast resistor at the same time as well. Haven't had a problem since.
Is your alternator over charging the battery? If so, its probably fried some components.
Electrical systems on cars are a mystery to me, but that was my experience.
Yours may be a short or a melted wire somewhere, but the voltage limiter may be worth checking.