The red box is an Electro-Launch. The one pictured is the first version, which was only in one Estes catalog - 1966. I got one off of eBay a few years ago and use it from time to time. Four Duracell Ds work pretty well even with the current "starters". I also got one of the later version with the lower case that nested in the top one. (see, for example, page 37 here:
https://estesrockets.com/wp-content/uploads/Catalogs/Estes_1967_Catalog.pdf) But I remember both the bare nichrome wire (which we wrapped around the Electro-Launch's key to make a coil) and then the wire with the flattened section that had the blue coating over it.
The launch controller to use with a car battery was probably the FS-5 Launch Control System, and the wooden tripod pad was called Tilt-A-Pad. Both are shown on page 39 of the same 1967 catalog linked just above.
I still have my Tilt-A-Pad from when I was a kid....it's one of the few rocketry-related things that I have from back then.
The OP seems to have wandered off. He has only been in one other thread, in which he reported "finally" getting to launch an Alpha III and then losing it to a RET, and looking for replacement suggestions. That was a week after he posted the question here.