Classic/Antique Car Repair: 1974 Beetle .... no spark, ron wolff, pushbutton switch

Question
Hi,
First off, I have tried around locally, no one can come to see the car for at least a week
I have looked everywhere for someone online to help me ( found Ron Wolff, no way to get in contact with him)
So, I come to you guys.

I have a 1974 Super Beetle, 1600cc air-cooled

I tried to start the beast, next morning after driving the night before, and NO SPARK ...... here is what I can tell you:

- I have a "pushbutton" ignition, due to crapped out ign.switch (so I ran a line off the starter to the battery, with a pushbutton switch spliced in ... functions just fine for months now)
- with key switched "HOT" and  start button depressed, solenoid kicks in & starter turns  
- power to the positive (+) post on the coil from ignition switch wire when in the "run" position, none when key is switched off.
- disconnected HIGH VOLTAGE lead from dist. cap & held it to grounded engine housing, turned starter over and NO SPARK from coil
- replaced the coil twice, same issue on all three
- checked the green wire to the condenser, "HOT" when key is "ON" ( 12V bulb connected to green wire, other end to negative post on coil ) bulb goes dead with key shut off

even though I am pretty sure it would not effect the High Voltage spark from the coil, also did the following..........
- checked points, and reset as best I cold with no gapping tools (set to about 1/64" ... by eye, and I have good eyes for this sort of thing .... 1/64" is about one half of a mm or .015-.016 of an inch)  
- cleaned up rotor & spark lead posts within the dist. cap
- still no spark
- checked to make sure fuel was flowing, it is getting into carb, have not taken carb off as yet, even though it could stand a cleaning ...... but this shouldn't affect the spark, so it can wait
NOTE: Distributor appears to be a stock single vacuum port ( stamped on side 0231 170 034 [VW] 043 905 205)

This baby ran on Thursday night @ 2AM, but would not start Friday morning !!!!!

Hoping you can ............. Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheers, for now,
Guy Hemphill
Langley, BC, Canada  

Answer
Well lets see if we can sort this puppy out and make it growl. Now, take your test light and connect it to the - side of the coil to ground. Take off the distributor cap. Turn on the key. The light should be on when the points are open and off when the points are closed. If the light will not go off when the points are closed the contact surface of the points either are not touching or burned and corroded. Either clean or replace them. let me know the results.
Brad