I have a '71 280 SE. Yesterday I was waiting at a light with my car running fine. I plugged in my cell phone battery charger into the cigarette lighter and my car immediatly went totally DEAD! I have no electricity at all. AT ALL! I DO NOT have a blown fuse in the fusebox. I can't even get the dash light on with jumper cables connected! It is like the car has no battery at all-and my battery is fine. Is there some master fuse beyond the fusebox that could be blown or something? PLEASE HELP!

I have a schematic from a Haynes manual, and it shows no "master fuse" or anything of the sort. But you can easily troubleshoot your problem. You'll need a test light or a basic multimeter to measure voltage. You can the meter at Radio Shack for about $10 if you don't have one.

The battery connects directly to the starter. Then a circuit goes to the light switch terminal 30 and from there goes to #1 fuse. So begin by checking for voltage at each of the nodes above and you will identify at least one problem.