Oi! I guess you could characterize my above post as having been made in Panic Mode. But, nothing like walking away from a problem and letting your subconscious work on it.

Not being able to find any exploded view drawings, or any info at all about how the steering lock mechanism works, I thought about ii a bit. So, this morning, lying uncomfortably on my back, I stuck a nail set up through the hole in the ignition assembly that surrounds the column and, Voila! found a hole therein, which must serve as the index between the ignition lock rod and that outer steering column casing. Marks farther down that casing told me that I had probably missed that when I previously removed that cap screw and disturbed things while replacing the turn signal switch. In any case, with those two pieces aligned, and the cap screw repaced,I was able to jiggle the steering wheel back and forth until I could turn the ignition key.

Hopefully all is in alignment now, the ignition switch assembly, and the outer and inner parts of the steering column. I tried two keys, my worn 50K- mile key and a like-new spare key. Both worked about the same, requiring some "jiggling" of both the wheel and the key to make things work. I suspect, to cure that completely I would have to replace the ignition switch assembly with my spare and dress the holes that the interlock bar passes through and engages. So I hope someone can direct me to comprehensive drawings/instructions on how to do that, if it ever comes to that point.

Meantime, how the hell are you supposed to access the bulbs in those temp gauges between the speedo and the tach?