Help: Car won’t start

Shane65 said
battery is charged, reading 12.2volts..

That's low for a voltage reading. 12.5 to 12.8 V is where it should be for fully charge depending on condition of battery.

Shane65 said
Ok I’m 4:30 in, and came across something peculiar… he said he likes to turn in his headlights to see if he’s getting power… so I mgetting power to my gauges etc, but when I go to turn in my headlights, nothing…

Should be no power to gages unless the key is in run position.
Headlight and parking lights get power even with the key off.
The test is to turn on the parking lights and look at the instrument panel. The ammeter should show slight discharge and the instrument panel lights should be on. Then get out and check the oarking lights to confirm.
Pull the switch to the headlight position. The ammeter should show about 10 amps discharge and the headlights should be reasonably bright. They will not be as bright as they get when the engine is running.

Shane65 said
I jiggled a couple wires coming out of my firewall.

Shane65 said
And now all the sudden the car starts.. I saw a faint trail of smoke coming up right when I started it, I ran around to the engine bay while it was running and it dissipated, and i couldn’t pin point where it came from. I could smell a faint smell of burnt plastic/rubber, but it went away. I sat there for 5 min while it was running trying to find where that might’ve come from, but nothing… not sure exactly what needs attention, but it’s running for the moment.

Shane65 said
Last week it was cranking over and starting perfectly… has been for about a year. But yesterday there was absolutely nothing happening when I turned the key, just the gauges would power on.

Big clues here.
1. Sitting a year, the battery is a bit low. Best to charge on a slow charger.
2. Seems like there are loose terminals, probably damaged connectors, and as others have already mentioned, probably some oxidation or corrossion. Begin at the big battery cables to remove, check and clean.

1968 main circuits are arranged like this

Amperes is a measurment of electrons moving. The ammeter shows electrons flowing through it to or from the battery.
Power from the battery to the starter solenoid and starter motor branches off at the starter relay and does not go through the fusible link or the ammeter.
Starting current flow in three diagrams