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I eventually figured out what was going on, but I thought I'd share some of my experiences when this happened today - in case one of you see similar symptoms.
My morning drive to work was fine and uneventful. Leaving, I found that the car was performing a little "rough" and then it stalled on me. There were no good places to pull off so I got her restarted but kept her idling high when I had to stop at the various traffic lights.
Some 15 minutes and 8 or so miles from work, the engine really started to run rough and then the oil light started flickering on. I pulled off immediately and checked the oil condition. I checked the dipstick and inside the valve cover. Seeing no obvious problems and hearing no nasty engine noises, I let the car idle with oil cap open. I could see the oil being pumped around, so I figured my sensor was going bad. I checked the wire connection and found it secure.
I set off again and the car still ran badly, but it did run. I was in no place where I could park and potentially abandon the car for the day. So I gingerly drove her along noticing that the engine temp was really starting to spike.
Symptoms at this stage were:
1) rough running (as sounded like only three cylinders)
2) Solid oil light that went off when the engine was idling *very* low
3) overheating.
4) increasingly fading engine power
Running the engine faster seemed to cool the car, so I kept her idling high until I got to a large parking lot where I could potentially leave the car overnight. I got out to investigate.
I waited there for a half hour to let the engine cool back down to normal. I checked coolant level and refilled. Removed the air filters and checked carb piston movement and needle condition. All were fine.
I then tried in vain to restart the car - plenty of fuel but no spark.
When I went to check the cap and rotor, I found....
My dizzy was loose and rattling around.
The securing bolts had worked most of the way out and the collar and dizzy was dangling about.
Re-seating the dizzy and torquing down the bolts fixed (Obviously):
Overheating,
Oil light,
Loss of Power,
Rough running.
I've never had *this* particular experience before, but it was lucky that I did not lose or seriously damage anything. The engine temp was pegged, but I did not get a boil-over or blow a gasket.
In retrospect, the symptoms were obviously timing related, but I'm not quite sure why the oil light was coming on. Seeing that the drive gear was still engaged in the cam and oil pump, there should have been no oil pressure drop.
My only worry is that the low oil pressure might have damaged something. The engine still runs and idles smoothly and I heard none of the tell-tale BAD noises associated with a failing oil pump. I'll just have to cross my fingers and keep my ears open.
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