If you’ve been following along, last year I painted the exterior of the GT. That made the engine compartment, door jams and trunk look dull. So again, if you’re following along at Magnumgt.com, I detailed the truck earlier this year.
That left the engine compartment.
So the engine and transmission was yanked, along with anything else in engine compartment.
It was then pressured washed and sanded with 400 grit and off to paint shop. Three days later I picked it up and brought back to the shop.
The door panels removed, doors painted, and panels reinstalled.
The car now waits its turn being reassembled.
Since you can’t put an ugly engine in a pretty engine compartment, it was disassembled, freshened up, some new accessories, and painted. Same with the transmission.
I’ve owned this car for about 20 years, but its time for it to go, as I’m at the age where it is time to downsize and enjoy retirement. If you like to follow stories of Mopars being built, I invite you to check out www.MoparWeb.com and participate.
A guy came to look at GT today. He expected a fresh engine compartment, brighter chrome and new tires. I wanted $15k and he offered $12.5K. I went to $14k but we were stalled there. I’ll pull drive train to clean and paint that and engine compartment, blast and paint bumpers, and detail better.
I made this dash panel for my 78 Dodge Magnum Dakota Digital gauges many years ago. I’ve since replaced the dash with white face analog gauges. Selling this panel for a dirt cheap $100 plus $25 to ship in Lower 48 if you can’t pick up at my shop. Use the panel or strip the gauges out for something else. All gauges worked when pulled, although the the tach was dimmer. I never investigated if there was a brightness setting.
The most rare of the Magnums. Dodge only made the first generation Magnum for two years – 1978 & 1979. It was initially made to replace the dying Charger as the B-Body muscle car for Dodge. However, Dodge got cold feet over the radical front end styling and hung onto the slow selling Charger for 1978, just in case. The Magnum was a big hit for 1978 and the Charger was dropped. Only about 5% of the Magnums were the GT model, which had heavy duty suspension, a engine tuned look dash and console plate, and big wheel flares.
As the 1979 Magnums started to trickle out there was an Arab Oil Embargo / Gas Crisis, with long gas lines for expensive gas – and the day you bought you gas was based on your license plate. This killed Magnum sales and the B-Body was forever dropped, to be replaced by the smaller J-Body (Stretched Aspen/Volare) Mirada.
The 1979s are far more rare than the 1978s, and the 1979 GTs are rarer than Hen’s teeth. My first new car was a Magnum, and I’ve owned over 20 since. This is the only GT I’ve ever seen in person!
I bought this car in 1999, from the broker of the original owner in Georgia. I replaced the 85mph speedometer with 67000 miles with a very expensive NOS Police Certified 140mph speedo.
This car is loaded with the E58 Police motor (360Ci 4bbl) with dual exhaust. The original plastic thermoquad carb was warped (as most do in time), and so I decided to go for Performance with an Edelbrock Performer Aluminum 4bbl Intake and 600cfm Performer carb. I also swapped the flaky stock ignition with a Mopar Performance ignition box and distributor. The car goes like a Raped Ape – well for a Disco Era Muscle Car. See below video I made today.
The paint and leather are in great condition. The headlights are clear. The intermittent wipers work, as does the power windows and locks. The car has leather wrapped steering, pedal dress up and floor console. The AC blew cold last month, but not as cold today with 96 degrees. I assume there might be a O-Ring leak as it was cold for about 4 months since I last recharged it. There are no chips in the glass or cracks in the dash. The photos speaks for the car. It is most likely the very best GT left on Earth. I wouldn’t think twice of driving this car cross country.
I love this car, and the only reason I’m selling is that in my mid-60s, it’s time to downsize my life. I have 31 cars and need to sell about 3/4 of them. Those ready to sell now can be found at www.DaveSchultz.com. It is located in Beasley TX. The reason for the Georgia tags is I never titled in my name. It’s been a museum car, driven occasionally to keep gas fresh and car exercised. The Georgia title has the buyer’s name blank.
This car is a rare time capsule and well worth the FIRM PRICE OF:
As a huge fan of the 1978-1979 Dodge Magnums — I created this web site back on January 1, 2002 to promote the marque to other Magnum enthusiasts. In addition to this site, there is a fairly large Facebook Presence and a forum at MoparStyle.
However, now that I’m in my sixties, my life has evolved to where I spend most of my time drag racing, on motorcycle trips, traveling with my wife, and spending time with my grandchildren. I just don’t have the time to give this site the justice it deserves, and as such I’m selling the domain name and web site for a mere $1000.
This site has an established following that is perfect for those selling Mopar parts, a magazine, or even just a Magnum enthusiast. There is a lot of advertising revenue potential for someone who will put forth the effort.
The new owner will get the domain name with remaining time before renewal (about $9.95 a year), the web site data and full administration, two month free hosting with CP accesss, and the Facebook presence. I will also help with the transferring the site from a dedicated server to a shared server with a hosting plan as low as $2.26 a month. Further, I will turn over the administration of the Facebook page, which can be used to grow the activity of this site. If interested — email me at davetheoldhippie @ gmail with the subject MagnumGT.com
As a huge fan of the 1978-1979 Dodge Magnums — I created this web site back on January 1, 2002 to promote the marque to other Magnum enthusiasts. In addition to this site, there is a fairly large