If you dive back into the early days of the automobile, it was common to purchase a running chassis from one make and send it to a body manufacturer for the actual shape of the car. Names that you know today, like LeBaron, Fleetwood, Superior, Darrin, Karmann, Ghia and many others would build a body that would accentuate the ability of the chassis and engine, or would appeal to many as an elegant, beautiful or aggressive take that best represented a brand, and buyers would eat it up. Expensive? Yep. But look at the machines that came out as a result. Seriously…find any coachbuilder, do a Google search for images, and dive into the rabbit hole. Might we recommend a 1941 Packard by LeBaron or one of my personal favorites, the 20M by Italian firm OSI?

Which brings us to today’s question. For most of us, what’s out there in the market is a pretty broad spectrum of vehicles. But it seems that for every one that works for us, several disappear that were almost there, but were missing just that little bit more that made the difference between an open checkbook and a used-car purchase. Case in point is the car you’ll see being worked on. The Dodge Magnum only lasted four years on the LX platform. The rest of the cars on that same platform still exist…yes, the Chrysler 300 is still in production, thanks for asking. No doubt that the LX platform has been a winner for Ma Mopar for the last fifteen years. Basic V6s to the most radical V8s to be sold with a warranty. Automatics and manuals. Rear-drive and all-wheel-drive. Two door, four door, wagon body. The platform is adaptable, but everybody has a bitch. The Charger has too many doors. The 300C needs the Hellcat. We want a new Magnum. The Challenger is too heavy. Why not put out a rolling unibody shell and let a coachbuilder finish off the body?

I might be a bit off for bringing it up, but when manufacturers crank out hundreds of thousands of vehicles a year for each model yet can’t seem to move them, something’s not right. Is this a feasible option? You tell us!