Maybe the linked article changed since it was posted? That's the story I read yesterday, but the article I see posted says:
It was handed over on Wednesday to the Argentinian judiciary by the daughter of the late Nazi financier Friedrich Kadgien, Patricia Kadgien, who has been under house arrest with her husband since Tuesday.
Any car before electronic ignition became more popular. My first two cars (purchased already old) had them and I'm old but not ancient. If you had a mass production car built in the 1970s or earlier you probably had this in the distributor. The points eroded due to the high voltages and would get a pitted surface, causing problems with ignition timing and that could be bad. It's a wear item, so file them to dress them up a bit until you can't any more. Then replace them. But when you file or replace you've got to adjust the points and check the ~~timing~~ (edit:) dwell again.
Both electronic ignition and later the ECU (plus developments in materials science) improved the lifespan of spark plugs too. This is why there were so many tune-up shops in the old days. You needed to regularly check the plugs, points, timing, oil and filters. Plus all the other things that didn't last or remain in adjustment as long back then as they do now.