Source of 12 volts to ignition coil?

[SolidLifters]

If I remember correctly the pink wire gets it's power FROM the starter solenoid. So if the harnesses under the hood are new and the pink wire isn't hot at the cowl wouldn't this indicate a bad solenoid switch? This is a recently acquired '66 L79 Convertible and I notice that in addition to the harness being all hacked up under the hood that there's a hot wire running from an auxilary position on the fuse panel through the firewall and to the ballast resistor, SO there must've been a problem with it already before the underhood harnesses were replaced.

 

[car-nuts]

If I remember correctly the pink wire gets it's power FROM the starter solenoid. So if the harnesses under the hood are new and the pink wire isn't hot at the cowl wouldn't this indicate a bad solenoid switch? This is a recently acquired '66 L79 Convertible and I notice that in addition to the harness being all hacked up under the hood that there's a hot wire running from an auxilary position on the fuse panel through the firewall and to the ballast resistor, SO there must've been a problem with it already before the underhood harnesses were replaced.

You can find a wiring diagram here:
http://www.lbfun.com/warehouse/tech_info/electrical/wiring diagrams/Chevy Corvette 1966.pdf

A black wire with a pink stripe runs from the starter solenoid to the coil, and is hot only when the ignition key is in the start position and the solenoid/starter is engaged.
A black wire with a pink stripe runs from the "ign" terminal of the ignition switch to the ballast resistor (and from there to the coil), and it provides (less) power to the coil once the ignition key is released and moves from start to ign (run).
So when the engine is being cranked, the coil is energized from the starter solenoid, and when the ignition key is released (as the engine starts running) then the coil is energized from the resistor rather than the starter solenoid.

BTW, a purple wire from the ignition switch (start position) is what energizes the starter solenoid, thus sending battery power to the starter (and via the black w/pink stripe wire to the coil)