1978 magnum 17000 orig miles..save her or not??

[truckerlee]

hello everyone...well mother mopar god dropped one on me this week..now what to do with her...this is really a 17000 mile 360 4bbl cali ordered car with no ac..didnt i say it went to cali??? uhmmm the man got the car from his mother when she passed believe the miles then was 4900 est its in the pics of the little note book that survived.. from what the neighbor says he then sold everything and drove the magnum here..the last entry is in 2000 with 9800 miles showing..the same neighbor who has know and worked for this guy since then says he just put new pads on her. he says he saw 17000 plus on the speedo either way this is sad...this guy has several high dollar cars in his drive...that very seldom get driven..the magnum only saw one trip up road once a week...only in the summer...but back to the story....two of the cars were town cars..less then 10000 on each sitting next to the mag...so this guy goes out to start them like he does everyweek..well this time he passes out....mats the ford.....and pooof its on fire!!! (dont give those fords any gas...they cant handle it) luckey someone sees him and gets him out in time..yes he is alive and not burned..but now has type 2 diabeties..how ever u spell it...yes i suck at spelling....but you know the story liabilty insurance only.....so she was headed too the crusher..wel this neighbor is a friend of mine..and thinks i might need some parts from her..so off i go..well he cut the factory exh..just to scrap the cat..and she looked really bad...but i started looking at her ...o boy here i go again light comes on..and next thing i know im thinking i can rebuild her..uuuhm..slight warp in roof..mint door warped...upper quarter warped hood taken out by heat and our fire department..same with deck lid no heat damage but they pushed the lock in grill gone wiring and dash gone...eng turns over fine..no water in cyls..half of plug wires werent hurt at heads..i think eng will be fine ..gonna start her this week... so what do you guys think????? i have a 70 challenger that could use a disc set up..if it wont fit a e body..my son now has my 69 charger (drum also) then the 360 could go in the 71 demon in the garage..and i could sell the rest off...what would you guys do?? ol the only thing with the grey...hes old and also painted both of the mercedies benz grills with house paint..hey hes old..what can you say....also i went to ace to get some primer..couldnt take her home looking like she did...neighbors dont like cars....so instead of primer i was walking dn the isle thinking baby **** yeller..well lookie there two cans of baby **** yeller...so thats what is up with the driver side paint...she was very sad..indeed..

 

[pabster]

Sad story. My opinion? Trick the hell out of it. I wouldn't try to restore a Magnum myself... no money in 'em and don't see much of a future in values either. Pull the interior, cobble together whatever you can find, give it a new lease on life with out worrying about correct parts, etc. See where scrounging for any and all that will fit and work takes the car!

Or give it to a kid who wants to learn how to work on cars. Or donate it to a good cause.

Just my humble opinion, glad the guy didn't get hurt- that fire must've been pretty nasty.

 

[truckerlee]

yea it is sad...was almost thinking nascar style..who needs a stinking interior..tribute too petty..this car wasnt that hot..u should see the fords...

 

[zdillinger]

If you've got lots of spare time and money, I'd go for it. If it were me, I'd pull everything of value off of it, use the discs on one of your other cars and scrap the rest.

 

[76 Doba]

The fire negates the originality. Such a shame, but atleast it won't get scrapped without some of the parts living on.

 

[Budnicks]

TruckerLee ; Too bad it isn't alot cleaner & not burnt up with those low miles, it would be a decent road trip car... Like most of the people here will agree, there isn't a big market for 78 Magnums, I have seen a couple look OK & perform pretty well, I had a good friend & race partner that had one, we loved taking rides & would just laugh at the enormous sucking sounds, when you would stomp on the throttle, it was pretty damn comfortable to ride in too... If it's something you want or like, then go for it, it only has to please you not anyone else, but the market won't support much if any money you put into it, a NASCAR look would be kind of cool, but I think take the usable parts, like the suspension, brakes, engine, trans & drive train out/off it & get rid of the rest, sell it to a scrap steel company for iron & steel weight there is plenty of that there....

 

[Richard Cranium]

A 78 Magnum has little value to begin with and that one has even less value; so little that it's not even worth the time for you to type this thread.

Junk that thing before you get any (dumb) ideas of saving it.

 

[Bruzilla]

I would scrap it even if it weren't burnt. I know a couple of guys who are flailing around trying to restore a couple F-body Volares, which were far more popular than the Magnums and Cordobas, and they can't find any parts at all. I can just imagine what Hell it would be trying to find parts for this car. Unless you get really luckly and find another low-mile doner, odds are most of these cars have already been crushed as they were never big sellers and demand for parts from recyclers was minimal.

 

[WP29440SE]

i can almost smell the cooked interior from here. most everyone will always tell you to crush it because "IT AINT WORTH ANYTHING" its always the same old value story whether its a rusted hulk or in primo original condition. if YOU think its COOL, then build it. my 1977 CHARGER SE aint WORTH sh*t but i love it, and i dont care WHAT ITS WORTH. KEEP ON CRUSHIN THEM 75-79 B BODIES , cuz mine is getting RARER EVERY DAY.....

 

[Meep-Meep]

Maybe pull the motor for a 400" stroker build then junk the car. If this has the transverse torsion bar setup those are / were really popular for the street rodders. Drop the K and the motor at the same time - then junk it.

 

[YY1]

75-79 B body stuff will work. Chargers, Cordobas, Furys, etc.

I seem to see a fair share of the Plymouth Fury in salvage yards.
I even know where one is with a mod blue plaid bucket seat interior, that's in good shape. Some 71-74 stuff will work as well. Also, some 5th Ave stuff will work.

Is it worth doin? Only you can decide that.

You still got some saleable parts there, though.

 

[truckerlee]

yea im thinking the same thing as you guys. just didnt want to make a big mistake..gonna go see if those disc will swap to my challenger..or kids charger..check to see if diff is about anything and maybe the 360 into my demon...