RE: Disconnecting the battery...
When Chrysler introduced the alternator about 1960 they did a demonstration
with a Valiant.  Started the car, disconnected and removed the battery, and
took off on a demonstration drive.  Used the film in TV commercials, showed
them stopping for a hamburger and continuing down the road. BUT, those were
still the days of mechanical regulators and mechanical points, the only
solid state electronics were the diodes in the body of the alternator
itself.
And BTW, the regulators in the Valiants and the bearings in the alternators
of the '61 and '62 Valiants loved to fail, ask me how I know.