Can't start, no spark getting to plugs

Sounds like you do have good spark from the coil based on the 'nasty jolt' comment. (Geez, quit mistreating your old dad! lol) Just FYI, my way of checking is to put a philips scredriver into the end of the spark wire from the coil and lay it with the shaft near the block, with maybe 1/4" gap to the block. It ought be able to jump that gap with a good blue spark when cranking.

You should next try the same technique on any of the wires to the plugs to check if spark is getting to the plugs to verify if you are really geting good spark to the plugs or not; of course, it will fire only 1/8 as often as the spark wire from the coil. I woudl chekc that on at least 2-3 of the plugs wires.

The the cap and rotor is where I would look next if you have good coil spark but no good plug spark. If you have the old rotor, compare it to the new one; look underneath to be sure the indexing tab is in the same orientation. Refer to the above thread on the rotor; there have been many cases of wrong or mismatched rotors and caps. Look for damaged posts inside the cap under the spark towers, and make sure the little springy contact under the center tower is right.

Is the distributor shaft supporting the rotor basically right? It ought to turn one way for about 20-30 degrees and then snap back to its static position when you release it.

Are the plug wires resistor type wires? If you do not know, and you have a multimeter, then measure the resistance in each one end-to-end. They will typically be in the 1k to 5k ohm range. If they get near to 10k, it is time to toss them.

And are the new plugs reistor types? If you have resistor wires and resistor plugs, it ain't gonna work well.

Make sure you wipe down the cap inside and out with a clean dry cloth. If there was carbon or dirt built up on cap inside or out, and the car sets in a moist area for a while, the mositure and dirt/carbon can form a 'carbon track' that will short the spark.

All of the above is probably obvious; just going over basics to gain confidence that you really have good spark or not, before moving on to the next likely problem area.