Anybody who takes the time to appreciate the 2005-2008 Dodge Magnum inevitably asks the question why Chrysler and its numerous parent companies since then stopped building the station wagon — or, why they never started building it again. After all, it shared the LX platform with the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger, and Dodge Challenger, and it's just a long roof version of those, right?

While it's true that the 2005-2010 Chrysler 300 front end is a relatively straightforward swap onto a Dodge Magnum—after all, Chrysler sold just such a car in Europe and other overseas markets as the 300C Touring—and that many Magnum owners have since built their own versions, any adaptation of 2011-up sheetmetal to the Magnum gets a little trickier. When Chrysler updated the LX platform in 2011 (technically creating the LD platform), its stylists leaned the A-pillars back, adjusted the roof profile, and lowered the nose of the car, among many other changes.

Of course, nothing's impossible, and we've seen several late-model Charger front end swaps onto Dodge Magnums. At least a few YouTubers (WhoWantSomeMo, Route K, Real Transformation) have even shown in detail what sort of cuts and blending it takes to make that happen.

However, that approach does little to update anything aft of the A-pillar, so the end result has a sort of design-by-committee look. To create something truly integrated, Junkyard Dave set out on another approach to creating a modern Magnum. Instead of starting with a Magnum and adding a late-model Charger front end, he started with a late-model Charger and proceeded to graft in a Magnum's roof and hatch, keeping the Charger's taillamps. The end result is impressive, not quite finished yet, and covers more than 100 videos over the course of the last two years, some of which detail the Durango all-wheel-drive system and Hellcat V-8 he incorporated into the build. Part 1 is below. Set aside a few weeks' worth of evenings to catch up on the entire build.