a puff of smoke and now nothing 69 valiant electrical issue

not necessarily... positive ground! maybe the radio would have an issue and the heater fan would spin backward! but I bet everything else would work as long as it was still using the old mechanical electronics like VR etc.

My grandfather had an old amplifier for a PA system that was positive ground. just don't set it on the metal of the car. ( it was a 12V powered system)
most positive ground systems ive seen were 4 6v battery's run in parallel on big trucks of the 60s!