If you don’t look like this, there’s no sense going any further because you clearly aren’t Dodge Magnum material, at least according to their brochure touting the cool, masculine features of this Dodge Charger-like two-year-only car. This 1979 Dodge Magnum XE GT is originally from Canada and spent winters in Arizona, but can now be found listed here on eBay in the great city of Albuquerque, New Mexico and the current bid is a mere $200, but the reserve isn’t met.
The seller says this Magnum XE GT is from Canada and has spent winters in Arizona, I’m assuming with at least one of its three owners and not by itself. Although if I were a car, I’d also want to get out of the snow and cold as much as I want to as a human. Even spending presumably years in Arizona hasn’t spared the next owner of this Magnum from having to drag out the welder, it has a fair amount of rust on the rear portions. This car has the “Gran Touring” package, known as the GT as seen on the faded hood graphics and some badges.
The trunk looks good at first glance, but looking under the mat reveals that you can see the ground through the holy edges (that’s not a bad band name, now that I think about it), and also the rear quarters are more than a bit rusty. It appears that the filler material above the right tail light lens is cracked, so add that to the list. Dodge offered the Magnum to U.S. and Canadian customers for the 1978 and 1979 model years as a supplement to the Charger for buyers who wanted a little extra.
For what was meant to be a sporty performance car wrapped in more than a bit of luxury, the classic 70s pattern fabric seats are a little surprising. On second thought, take another gander at Dirk (or whatever his name is) in the first paragraph, maybe this optional fabric pattern is perfect after all. It’s called “Saxony and Whittier II cloth”, a perfect 1970s name for seat fabric. Another thing that appears to be perfect is the condition of the back seat. The dash, not so much, the Arizona heat must have found another weak spot, other than Dirk’s skin.
As almost always, we wonder if taking a weekend to clean up a vehicle, washing it, using some polishing compound if that’s appropriate, vacuuming and cleaning the interior as much as possible, and for sure cleaning the engine compartment would yield higher bid prices? I argue that they would. In any case, Dirk’s dusty Dodge is wearing a 318-cu.in. OHV V8 with a two-barrel carb, 135 horsepower, and 250 lb-ft of torque. It sends power through a three-speed TorqueFlite as you expected to the rear wheels, also as you expected. A 0-60 time of 13 seconds is roughly twice what it takes a new Honda Odyssey minivan to get there, but then again, Dirk would never drive a Honda Odyssey minivan. The seller says it “starts and yard drives” but needs some tinkering. Any thoughts on this Magnum?
Fun write-up Scotty. I kind of liked these Magnums. This one is pretty rough and I’m not sure it has a future. It’s perfectly fitting that it is brown with a patterned interior. Speaking of fitting….
It is easy for us to poke fun at cars of this time, with their overblown styling and malaise-era (lack of) performance and their flashy interiors and their poor overall quality. But they were products of their time. Ever wonder what, in fifty years, our grandkids will be saying about the vehicle choices we today view as perfectly normal?
Thanks, Bob! Eagle-eye reader Alan spotted a couple of missing GT features, such as an engine-turned dash and fender flares. I saw those listed in brochures but went with the seller’s description and faded GT hood graphic. It may have been a GT tribute car at some point?
I agree about modern vehicles being looked at with a sideways eye in the future, although we’ll all be using jetpacks anyway, right?
50 yrs from now, vehicles will look like they look today, thanks to safety & mpg standards.
Even if u sell your 2008 challenger & buy a 2023, your neighbors probably would not notice – if both were the same color..
Cool đ GT hood decal.
GT graphic but not a real GT. The real GT had Fender flares and telling of all was the engine turned dash around the gauges and the passenger side.
I was wondering about that, Alan, thanks for the heads up!
Was an easy one to spot, the 79 T-Top GT that I special ordered in 1979 is still sitting in my driveway. First new car I ever had.
I like it. Not so crazy about the upholstery but one thing it’s got going are those Wide bucket seats. Perfect for big boomer butts. For the right price this would make a great winter beater or cleaned up, summer rat. By the way that first link was perfect.
I bought a 79, just like that, in February of 80. It was a leftover, very plain, which is the way I like cars. I always thought the interior was plush and it was very comfortable. If the body was in better shape, I’d be very tempted to place a bid, but I don’t want any more projects.
Did some research on the 318 engine and Hot Rod magazine got 400 horsepower out of one in an older Barracuda, using Magnum Heads, I’m guessing that’s what’s here so you’re halfway home.
I like it.
Now at US$720.00
10 bids
Ends in 7d 3h
01/15, 08:52 PM
Reserve not met
Would rather have the Mirada that came next, though these did have nice styling, just too heavy for the era. I think the Mirada was like 400 pounds lighter.
These were cool cars, Iâve owned (and parted out) a fewâŚall brothers to the Cordoba. Maybe they sold an âXE/GTâ in Canada? In the U.S. if you ordered a GT you got the afore mentioned engine turned dash (like they used in the 79 300), fender flares, along with leather buckets, and most importantly the E58 360 4BBL âpolice motorâ. Those seats were about as close as you could have to sitting in your living room (in a mid-grade Dodge)âŚ
You could be onto something, Gary! I wonder if that’s what it is now that you mention it, especially since it was originally a Canadian car.
Thanks Scotty! I think all of the Cordoba/Magnum cars were built at the Windsor plant anywayâŚmight make sense. Another thing the GTâs came with was a 15X8 (I think) special wheel with a GT âdomeâ in the middle. Hard to find now!
When these came out my father loved them, his last new car was a 69 Road Runner. I tried to get him to buy a magnum because I would have been driving soon, but wasn’t in the cards but always liked these.
In a world of rotted out Chargers and Road Runners, this is a breath of fresh air. I was a college student at PSU when these were new and drooled over a black Magnum with red leather and t-tops at the local dealer, long gone now. I was driving a 68 Sport Satellite I paid $600 for from the original lady owner. No way could I afford the Magnum. Then out comes the Mirada and I liked them as well. You will never see these at Cars and Coffee. Oh, the good old days when Chrysler actually built CARS.
It was 1979 and I was single, fresh out of college making what I thought was the big money with no bills and loving the times. I had a 66 Chrysler 300, a 73 Charger, 400 magnum, 4 speed and a 75 Charger Daytona.
Somehow I had them all decked out for the times and felt I needed another new car. I was in the process of ordering a new Magnum, Black GT, T-Top, Red leather with every option they could put on it when I passed another local dealer and saw he had a Superbird. The Black Bird was $9,900.00 and the Magnum after all the options was over $10,000.00.
The Chrysler and Charger are long gone, but oh how I wish that Bird was parked in my driveway instead of the Magnum. Somehow I convinced myself at the time that the Bird was impractical and was just not the car the Magnum was. Hindsight !!!
Was breezing through the write up and at first glance thought it was a 13 second 1/4 mile and was like, âWhoa!â But then read 0-60âŚ. :-(
Cool car, like the headlight covers. If I remember those also came with t-tops? That would make a cool cruiser.
These little 318s respond well to a 4 barrel/intake swap. Really opens it up, makes it a little quicker. Had a â81 5th Ave with the Lean Burn and did that and the top end increased a bit. Left the Lean Burn computer dangling on the driver valve cover wrapped in a towel, hahah. Did this as a teen and didnât know how to bypass the computer.
I do like this car, I can see a cool factor that could be restored. I think the price needs to be under $2,000 to make it worth it. I recently restored a 70’s Ford pick up, that was probably in better condition than this car and I spent about $15,000 in parts. I was amazed it turned out well, but had I realized how many parts it would need and the cost, I would not have paid the asking price. I could see the same scenario with this car.
Auction update: this one ended at $1,335 and the reserve wasn’t met.