Magnum questions

[Skull & Bones]

Looking for advice on putting a 1978 Magnum XE in a towing yard in Eugene, Oregon that has been off the road since at least 1995 back on the road and making it safe to drive. It is a 400 V8 with a column-shift 727 transmission, air conditioning, power windows, split bench front seat and has been in the ownership of a tow yard since the owner did not claim it in 1995.

It is brown with a tan vinyl top and interior, the radio has been removed, I think the lean-burn system, stock carb and intake were removed and replaced with an Edelbrock 4-barrel carb & manifold, and it has been in 3 different tow yards owned by the same company. It started and ran for me in 2005 when I was allowed into the tow yard and it had a fresh battery put in so it could be driven out of the yard and onto a tow truck. It does not have a certificate of destruction, but I may have to get a lien title or salvage title. If it makes any difference, some paperwork inside said it was sold new in Selma, Alabama and implied that it was driven to Springfield, Oregon in or around 1991.

As for why I am not looking to get a Magnum in better condition? This particular car has been my dream car since I ran across it as a kid in the late 90s, and I would absolutely love to get it running, driving and stopping safely, getting the hood to open without bouncing on it near the latch and making the retractable light covers either work or stay permanently open. I don't care about how it looks.

I know :worthless_thread:, but my only pictures of it are polaroids in which the car is barely visible, I have no scanner and I will only be allowed into the tow yard to buy the car.

 

[FatJack]

Sounds like a good project. What was the question?

 

[Skull & Bones]

Probably a better wording would've been advice. My questions were about what it would take to get it back on the road, how to fix the hood and how to fix the headlights. As for not caring about how it looks, for one, paint jobs are expensive, and for two, I like the don't-restore-it ideology of the Shelby Cobra and Ferrari fanbases and think it'd work well for a Magnum due to the relatively low resale value.

Another thing: Would swapping in the similarly sized/shaped R-body headlight buckets and bezels work to get rid of the retractable headlight covers?

 

[MAGNUM GT XS22L9R]

OK, sounds like you know what you want. Obviously I can not tell you if this
Magnum is worth it, due to not having pics or seeing it first hand. There is a
couple of things that may help. Pics of the vin number and the data plate(s)
under the hood on top of the drivers side fender. Maybe you can get them to
take pics for you? There's a guy [Here] that is restoring a Magnum XE from the
ground up with lots of pics. This may help to understand what your up
against? I own a few of these Magnums, click the links in my signature to see
them. On the R-body thing, not much is really interchangeable.(Body & Interior)

PM sent! The headlights and covers are very easy to work on!

 

[Skull & Bones]

Thank you. I will e-mail or call and ask the tow yard to at least take a side, front and rear view, an interior shot and a shot of the engine, if not more detailed stuff like the VIN, gauge cluster and whatnot.

Despite coming from the Southeast and PNW, the car has no severe rust, the upholstery (tan velour on the seats and vinyl on the side panels) could use some Woolite but is not damaged and the carpet, vinyl top and dash pad need to be replaced. (easy JC Whitney stuff there). I was already told that it does not have a cracked block, cracked oil pan or cracked head, and except for the carb and manifold, doesn't appear to have been monkeyed with much.

I'm guessing the headlight doors need to be polished out with plastic polish and a soft buffer head on a rotary tool, and the motors replaced with a 12-volt motor from somewhere like Grainger?

 

[dobastyle79]

Wildcat Mopars in Oregon has a Triple black Magnum GT in their yard, listed as a running project. E58 cars are awesome and i would try to get one to make your magnum project.

That said, I've taken three cordobas in a similar state to your magnum and made them road worthy again. The brakes steering and suspension are all easy to work on. The engines are bulletproof and dime a dozen in the yards. The only weak spot is the 904. Play to hard with a 360-904 and youre having the trans guys rebuild it before too long.

And of course the wipers are a critical weak spot to making these cars daily drivers. If your prospective magnum's wiper linkage can be pulled up from the cowling and moved around by hand, the unobtanium bushing is gone.

 

[78MagGTP400Ts]

ever get the car?

 

[Skull & Bones]

ever get the car?

Still there. I've been flat broke lately...