car died after a short ride.

[combat32]

Last month it wouldnt start i changed the coil still wouldnt start, changed the points and while i was doing that replaced cap and rotor.
still wouldnt start, adjusted the points again and she started up, i ordered a new VR since my dash lights were still flickering.
put that in and everything was great, no more flickering lights and it was running.
adjusted the carburetor (4300 autlolite) got her running pretty smooth. (side note i need to send it out and get it rebuilt)
well took my 69 Mach 1 out over the weekend, went and got some new gas about 5minutes down the road.
came back and took my brotherinlaw for a ride, thats when it happened.
I went down the road about 5 minutes and got on it a little, it got up to 70mph and i let off and was just coasting.
stepped on the gas and it kinda bucked a little and shut off. put it in neutral and coasted, tried to start it and nothing.
once we stopped in a driveway i pulled a plug wire, no spark. opened the distributor and the wires on the points were almost touching the vacuum advance wire/arm.
i rotated the wires away from that, she started up and died again. put some tape under the connection, tried again nothing.
took the connector off the Voltage regulator and re-seated it, started up stayed running, started to put the air cleaner on and noticed the VR was starting to smoke.
ran over shut the car off. got a new VR and popped it on car started up and drove it home.

would the Voltage Regulator cause the car to shut off like that?
i got a new one from autozone, should i order another one, if so what kind?  solid state or old school point style?
the one i put on was a solid state and didnt notice until i got home with it, that it was made in china
I still have my old one that the interior lights flicker, that is a reproduction i got from Mustangs unlimited years ago.
never had this happen before.
sorry for the long post, just trying to include everything i can.