Pontiac Repair: stuck in park, safety mechanism, auto box

Question
hi from Ireland! hi Harold just a quick question, I have a problem with my 79 firebird 301 and can't seem to find any help or info on it, I can't seem to find it in my hynes manual, anyway if you can help it would be great. my problem is that I started my car up and went to put it into drive(its a floorshift auto box) and it would not move from park and I couldn't turn the key back or forward. so the car is now stuck in park with the key in the on position i know there is some kind of safety mechanism to stop the car from being started in drive, could this be my problem and how do I sort it. thanks in advance for your help. noel

Answer
Well the part that keeps it from starting in drive is the neutral safety switch. Its an electrical switch located either on the shifter or on the side of the transmission.
The switch only stops power to the starter if it is not in park or neutral, it will not stop the key from turning. Sounds like you might have a bad ignition lock cylinder.