HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  This is what greeted me.  Craig finished "roughing" the rear quarters and trunk and primed them.  Good start for 2005.
	Here's a great shot showing the spliced quarters.  Remember this is only a rough, quick job for the time being.  But this is the proof if someone wants to tell you what quarters swap!  Magnum, Cordoba, and Charger SE.  Also, see the raising of the rear?  Yeah, no 100lb bumper, but still...
	A shot of the passenger side behind the door showing panel fitment.
	This is the passenger side trunk.  You can see the spot welds onto the unibody.  This side wasn't that bad to do as the profiles are very similar.
	Here's the driver's side.  This view is as if you were leaning over the driver's rear quarter looking in.  That seam is from cutting and pasting the Magnum's trunk's hump flat to match the profile of the 1979 only trunk.  Like I state earlier, this won't earn me points at a judged event, but this car is to be enjoyed by driving the wheels off of it!  Besides, its a late B, they aren't ever going to be worth anything! (tongue in cheek)

	I helped Craig get the doors off.  The interior was left in.  It would be masked when he painted, but the extra effort to pull the pass seat and the carpet should've been expended.
	Here's the bottom of the driver's door.  While the skin has a lot of dings, were weren't expecting it to be this solid underneath.  Considering the amount of rust elsewhere, this was a pleasant surprise.
	A shot of the passenger door.  Just like the driver's side, not that bad rust-wise.  This is where January ends.

	This is what I saw the first weekend.  A far cry from this.
	And the driver's jamb, this was the worst corner. You have to look REALLY hard to see where the new metal is... as the door will be closed 99.99% of the time, I don't care... the rear quarters are first rate.
	When Frank (360diplomat on the discomopars forum) and I arrived, the doors weren't hung yet.  Well, they are heavy for one man (Craig) to hang.  So we helped Craig out and got them both on.

Here's a great picture of the ride height difference from old vs. new.  Same old springs, same extended shackles.  Just new trunk and rear quarter extensions.  Yup, well worth it!

     Here's a couple shots from the floor.  I wire wheeled it up and I got to see the good news that these were still solid.  In retrospect, it was great news considering the Magnum had been junked 4 months earlier.  The fourth picture shows some of my early welds.  I'm better now, and those are still holding.

	The start of the light weight steel bumper project.  Essentially, each bumper assembly weighs close to 100 lbs!  Here's a couple shots of the front bumper.  I wish I had some shots of the rear, it was in much worse condition.  I was no fan of the lower grilles in the 300's bumper so off they go!  (this is the spare bumper from the donor 300 btw)
	Here's a more indepth view of the the remaining cuts for the front.  Very similar for the rear bumper.  However this still left me looking for a way to mount them, and those shocks are kind of heavy...

     Can't say I accomplished too much this month on the car.  I was working two jobs of upwards 70+ hours a week.  I managed to get an inner bumper from my friend Rob (rumblefish360 in the forum) in Long Island to replace my torched original one.  Expect your rear bumper to be much worse than the front if you live in an area that salts the road.  Not pleasant in the least.

June

	Just took the hood off of the 300.  Getting ready for the major mechanical part of the project.
	Right before the moment of truth!  Just a couple things left to go.
	All gone!!
	Here's the tired motor.  Reused the Edelbrock Performer manifold and Carter Thermoquad on the "new" motor.
	The "new" motor.  The base is just a stock 38,000 mile 2bbl 360 from the 78 Magnum parts car.  Little known fact, the 2bbl heads had a smaller chamber, which gave them a higher compression!  The E58 heads also had larger cooling jackets and are rumored to flow better, for better high RPM power.
	All painted up.  This is the recipe.  I changed the head gaskets to the thin .020" thick ones Mancini Racing sells.  I bought the "big" Summit Racing cam kit.  .441 lift intake and exhaust  218/228 duration @ .050" lift.  Edelbrock Performer intake, and a Thermoquad carb.  I spent the money I made in paint and body as you can tell by the extensive list!
	And in the car!  Definitely a fun way to spend a couple weeks!  As the month ended it was almost all ready to go.  Just a couple incidentals left and it would be time to break in the cam!

Early in the month I managed to fire up the 360.  Had to replace the starter relay after toasting one starter.  I also purchased a mini-starter and I will say that it is indeed a better design overall.  Broke in the cam, but the engine was running hot.  Checked the oil and saw coolant in it.  After some chasing I determined it was the water pump.  I managed to drive it down to the body shop where I eventually changed the water pump and the 360 never broke a sweat again.

	Craig pinched a nerve in his back the week I brought it down to him, but he's slowly made progress throughout August.  Here's a shot of the mostly finished rear quarter, gone is the black primer.
	He hurt is back while starting the decklid.  Bottom is primed and painted.
	Helped him put the decklid on.  This is the builder primer.  Remember this is the much more dented but less rusted Magnum lid.
	Took off the nose.  Had to replace it with one picked up from my Ohio buddy when I went to the Mopar Nats.  It's in the back of the green 76 stepside in this photo.  The passenger's side had some screws, cracks, and filler, prompting the replacement.
	Here's a shot of the pass door fitment, note the gap from the A-pillar.
	Now here's the driver's side.  The gap is smaller here.  Why?  The door opening on the pass side is 17/32" LONGER than that on the driver's side!  Craig and I disagree why.  He thinks one owner was pulling hole shots all the time with it, I just chalk it up to 1979 Chrysler build quality.

	Here's a shot of the bodywork on the pass side.  If you look closely you can see all the dings that Craig is trying to straighten out.  I also managed to gut the chrome and glass from the doors.
	Here's a pic from wetsanding day.  You can start to see the body coming together.  Mounting the nose was a two man project.
	Here's a good primer shot.  Starting to look like a sweet disco-era mopar.
	WOO HOO!!!  Painted!!  362 days later from the start.  Sept 19th 04 to Sept 16th 05.  Took a couple hours to get the grille and stuff back on, but its REALLY starting to look like a 300 again.
	The classic "coke bottle" shape.  Now with 99% less dings!
	Here's the first "after" shot of a rear quarter.  Much different than 2004, eh?
	Nice 3/4 shot.  I'm very happy with how it turned out.
	The prototype bumper brackets designed for late B-bodies, 6 months from project start.  I needed the rears badly, so I designed the whole set while I was at it.  Great way to lose weight.  Very stiff.

Ended the year with finding this.  A NOS grille medallion. Found on eBay mis-listed, I managed to score it for under $100.  Gratefully I had an extra grille so for 06 that would HAVE to get re-chromed.