Our 78 Magnum GT Found

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12many

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I know it’s not an A-Body but....Our triple black 1978 Magnum GT that I (foolishly) sold back in 2002 has come up for sale! I bought this car back in 93, lived outside of Chicago at the time, always wanted one, and found it in the old Mopar Collector Car Guide periodical (iirc) and rode a Greyhound bus with my toolbox down to Gray, Georgia to buy it and drive her home. (Car was sold new in Jonesboro, Georgia) Brought two newborns home from the hospital in it over the coming years, made lots of trips on vacation and even went to the Indy Mopar Nats in it in 1994. Moved to South Carolina in 95, wrenched and tidied up various things on it all the while it was our main car up till about 99, we needed a more fuel efficient daily car for the wife to haul the young ones around. We bought a 89 Daytona Shelby and the Magnum spent more time “retired” as life took prescience. Decided to sell it in 2002 and never looked back, until our oldest reached driving age. Bought him a 79 Cordoba which he loved, and he somehow grew to really liking Magnums also for some reason! He ended up buying a 78 Magnum a few years ago and now we are building him a nice 360 for it. But all this time our old GT has gotten talked about, pictures of it looked at quite often and obviously regrets popped up at times. Started wondering where it could be. And then it popped up on Facebook just recently. Located at some dealer in Atlanta, in faded worn out condition, but still intact and not all beat up. Biggest thing is the insane price they are asking. $10500!! Damn!! Still, my son wants to take a drive out there to look at it......didn’t think 20 something year olds could be so sentimental! Can’t say he’s wrong, I may just have to go with him myself!:) Damn, if we’re only about $7000 less :eek: Here’s pictures of it after we bought and detailed it, one from just before being sold, and here’s the link to it now:

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Pretty wild how it’s traveled and made it back to the Atlanta area after all these years. https://www.empireautomotiveofatl.com/details/used-1978-dodge-magnum/70739479
 
Very Nice! You reminded me.... I have a '79 white one that needs work :rolleyes:
 
I always loved these. Never had one, but I did have a 77 charger SE back around 1987. Pulled the 400, dropped in a 440. Last gen B bodies were really nice cars. Heres the 77 charger I sold. Interestingly these pix were summer of 1987 coming back from mopar nats. Cooked the starter on the cheapie headers it had. We let it cool down enough and then jumped it off on his 72 challenger. No such a thing as a denso mini starter then. My buddy always had a professional camera with him. I never saw these pix until last year when he was going through an old box. That Nikon took great pix for back then.

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I have '79 blk 1/2vinyl top w/ t-top/blk, tan leather interior Magnum GT w/360, also. Also have a '78 Magnum XE sunroof car, Blk w/ red leather interior and 400-4bbl. I'm pretty partial to the late B's. I have 3- '79 300's, and a 76 Cordoba.
 
If the body, paint, interior and electrical is in good shape, the price is good. An insane price would be 15K and north. The problem behind these awesome rides is the dog years they were produced in and the rarity of the car which translates into getting body parts for them.

Otherwise the cars weirdness of the ISO suspension and longer T bars are a draw back when it comes to beefing up the suspension. Drivetrain wise, they take all the regular tricks and tips. There just crazy low compression.
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"Personal luxury vehicles".......what a platform! Dad had a few Pontiacs in that class: 72 Lemans and a 69 Grand Prix SJ. The SJ had deep buckets in the back and we were a family of 5....WTH?
 
Very optimistic on the price with 96K and paint and interior issues. These are great cars and my first new Mopar was a 78 Magnum, triple-white with red interior accents. XS22K8Rxxxxxx (I remember most of the VIN, as it was that important to me). Bought at the Dodge Hut dealership in Honolulu, where I sat with the options list and built my own car. Great time, and wish we could do that now....
 
I have a neighbor with a 1976 Charger with the 360-4V. Bone stock. I don't know what he wants for it, bur rumor has it it's for sale cheap. I don't want the mods on my *** for some violation, but if anyone's interested, I'll ask him and take pictures. Paul.
 
rumblefish360 said:
If the body, paint, interior and electrical is in good shape, the price is good. An insane price would be 15K and north. The problem behind these awesome rides is the dog years they were produced in and the rarity of the car which translates into getting body parts for them.

Otherwise the cars weirdness of the ISO suspension and longer T bars are a draw back when it comes to beefing up the suspension. Drivetrain wise, they take all the regular tricks and tips. There just crazy low compression.
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I actually replaced those subframe rubber idolaters with some steel pucks I had made and swapped in pre-73 leaf spring axle pads and shock plates on that car so it was pretty much like the 72-earlier cars, still soft torsion bars and rear springs but it handled pretty good, not at all rubbery and disconnected feeling. A set of some DA shocks on those cars would do wonders.
 
74ChargerSE said:
Very optimistic on the price with 96K and paint and interior issues. These are great cars and my first new Mopar was a 78 Magnum, triple-white with red interior accents. XS22K8Rxxxxxx (I remember most of the VIN, as it was that important to me). Bought at the Dodge Hut dealership in Honolulu, where I sat with the options list and built my own car. Great time, and wish we could do that now....
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That mileage their showing is only what shows on the 140 MPH certified speedo that is not original to that car. If it still looked like it did when I sold it maybe it’d be tempting to consider, maybe
 
A nice car, but they are asking way too much for it for things it needs to make it right. I do have a soft spot for these B body's though, be it a Magnum, Charger or Cordoba. They are all very cool with the right options. I had a 77 Cordoba, 400, 4 bbl, console auto. etc. back in 84. It was a good car (except for the "Lean Burn", which I did away with) I would like to have another one. Good luck with the white project one. P.S. I have a full set of the Magnum GT wheels, (5) but no center caps. I just think they are cool to have around & they are not easy to find, like regular cop car wheels. Might put them on my 95 Dakota when I swap it over to 5 lug this summer.
 
Nice.

Offer $4500.
You could also offer to finance it with them so their finance department makes a sale as well.
They like that kind of stuff.

...now if someone would only advertise my former 70 Bee for sale locally...
 
12many said:
I actually replaced those subframe rubber idolaters with some steel pucks I had made and swapped in pre-73 leaf spring axle pads and shock plates on that car so it was pretty much like the 72-earlier cars, still soft torsion bars and rear springs but it handled pretty good, not at all rubbery and disconnected feeling. A set of some DA shocks on those cars would do wonders.
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I bought a set of cast iron(?) blocks to replace the front isolators. I assume they were M/P. I never installed them, they're kicking around my shop somewhere. I replaced the 9-1/4" axle with an 8-3/4" and got rid of the rear leaf spring isolators.
If you bought an Mag GT or especially a 79 300 you basically got a limited production 2dr personal luxury copcar, with cop fuel tank, dual exhaust, leather interior, cop engine, cop suspension, cop steering box, convenience options & fancy trim.
 
There was a guy up here in the Seattle mopar club, who, IIRC, inherited his grandfather's white 75 Charger. He was an engineer at Boeing, and he restored that car to the nines. When it was done it looked like it had just been delivered to the dealership. Beautiful job.
 
A guy local to me has a white one for sale, with t-tops, its in real good shape, paint and interior looks nice, but he wants $5,000 for it, I thought that was too much, but maybe I should buy it.
 
sireland67 said:
A guy local to me has a white one for sale, with t-tops, its in real good shape, paint and interior looks nice, but he wants $5,000 for it, I thought that was too much, but maybe I should buy it.
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The "forgotten B-bodies" are rising in prices. Amazing what the last 7 years have done to the prices of these.
 
rustycowll69 said:
I don't remember. I think it came from a b- body wagon, with those finned 11in drums. I did that like 30yrs ago. I still have the dober and the 300, if you really need a width, I could try and get an approx width
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Naaa, I’m good. Just wondering, that’s all.
 
Late b bodies are harder to find and more loved ($$$) the an the F body (76-80) which are sorta worthless unless a SuperCoupe Kitcar, or T top.
The late Bs were better cars than the Fs, but still any of our Mopars built after 72 take a hit, They are what they are. A child of their times.
 
sireland67 said:
A guy local to me has a white one for sale, with t-tops, its in real good shape, paint and interior looks nice, but he wants $5,000 for it, I thought that was too much, but maybe I should buy it.
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I'd be taking a serious look at that.
 
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