Your friend was probably thinking of the preceding Holley electronic ignition system in scouts, commonly referred to as a gold box. That system incorporated a remote signal amplifier, often gold in color, hence the name. Those boxes developed a reputation for failure. The prestolite system is pretty good, but like anything else, age can take its toll. I'm not sure about replacement parts price and availability for that system. Might be a bit prohibitive. You could do some internet research about replacement prestolite parts to find out for yourself. The pertronics is not without its issues either, especially the first gen modules, which will fail rather quickly if the ign is left on with the engine stopped. That's a practice best avoided no matter what ignition system you're running, but sometimes accidents happen. The gen II & iii p-tron modules are supposed to be internally protected from meltdown in the event of being energized with the engine stopped, but that protection comes with a price tag.
The good news is, what you have is working fine, so you don't have to be in a hurry to do anything. Were I you, I would spend some time searching for and reading through threads related to these topics on this forum and binder planet. You'll begin to get a feel for what options are available along with what is good and what is not so good. Of particular interest should be the Ford duraspark conversion, written by bill hamilton who is the resident efi system conversion guru in the IH realm.
