Found my dads original 1971 duster!

Mattax said

Nothing so far screams gages failed.
You all connected a "12 V" power source to the key switch feed. Pretty much the same as would be normal.
Nothing else is needed to start.
Where is the other half of that cut wire J1 ?
Even if it the car battery was disconnecte,the main splice would get energized by the alternator once the engine was running. If the other half of J1 touched ground => smoke.

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Also, I will try to read through all of the info you gave me and see if I can make any more headway! I just wanted to post an update, in case something popped out at anyone. The pic I took of the original location of the red and black wires on the ammeter are hard to see. I’m wondering if maybe they were on wrong posts? Which posts should each wire be on? I see that one says red, but not sure where black would go