I assisted Aaron in removing the battery box and the wires in ? are completely missing a couple of inches of insulation where they transition in to the fuse box, are touching each other, there is obvious corrosion and the wires, which appear to be about a 10 gauge, run directly to the positive terminal of the battery. If you look at the battery "+" connector, it has a plate with a number of wires crimped to it. These are the wires.

As I recall, this is not unheard of for our cars. Why it happened is another ? altogether. This car does have an aftermarket stereo c/w stand alone amplifier.

Redcoat Raceworks. Performance parts and custom fabricating for Contours, Mystiques and Cougars. Specializing in chassis and suspension parts. Custom end links, control arms, strut tower bars, engine torque braces, etc.