The resistance wire looks to be about a #16 stranded steel wire (not copper). Odd.
I'll run a new #12 as suggested. Running it to a switched source on the fuse box sounds like a good idea and possibly less painful. Thanks.
The purple wire goes directly to my ignition switch and looks like it only got hot as far back as the firewall. The car, originally being a standard, does not have the NSW. It is wired for it though and the two-purple-wire plug appears to have a factory jumper (shorting plug) installed.

65NY, thanks for the encouraging words. I am not worried though because 1)there are not that many out there, 2)There are not that many people that even know what it is, and 3) there are even fewer that see the beauty in the beast. Much as is the case with your dusty old (albeit running) 1-yr model New Yorker. An even rarer (?) or more rare (?) model.

Thanks ALL!