At car shows, I’m often attracted to a few cars for no particular reason – and at a nearby show in June, this 1977 Cordoba was one such car. I was interested enough to read the information sheet placed inside the windshield, which described the car’s options, color, original sale price, and that it currently belonged to its second owner. Then at the end, the following sentence jumped out at me:
“This car was featured on the website Curbside Classic in 2015.”
With thousands of articles, it’s hard to remember all of our featured cars, so I quickly looked this one up. Sure enough, fellow Virginian Robert Kim found this car parked at a shopping center and published this article in 2015, noting the coupe’s distinctive checkmate cloth interior. With the benefit of additional photos, and a brief conversation with the Cordoba’s owners, it seemed like a good idea for an update on this beautifully preserved Chrysler.
It turned out that the Cordoba was part of a his-and-hers pair of Chryslers. The lucky owners drove both the Cordoba (hers) and the 1973 Imperial (his) parked next to it. The Cordoba’s owner laughed that one of the few times she drove her car to a shopping center, it wound up on the Internet. But this car is no stranger to Internet fame – its photo also appears on Wikipedia’s Cordoba page. There are few better examples of an early Cordoba: With its original Formal Black Sunfire Metallic paint and matching elk grain vinyl roof, this car seems to define the very concept of a personal luxury coupe.
From a sales perspective, Cordoba was the right car at the right time, for personal luxury coupes were in full stride by 1975 when the model first debuted. With distinctive, elegant styling, and a competitive price, Cordoba vaulted to the top of Chrysler’s sales charts. Over its first three years, nearly 500,000 examples were produced, accounting for two-thirds of all Chrysler-brand cars. Our featured car was one of 163,138 that rolled off of Chrysler’s Windsor, Ontario assembly plant for 1977.
Given their glitzy design and squishy ride, these cars weren’t for everyone. But it’s easy to see how the Cordoba captured buyers’ interest in the mid-1970s. It looked more expensive that it was, and it looked quite unlike any other car. Even today, this car attracts a lot of attention.
In fact, the lady who owned it noted proudly that it tends to attract more attention than her husband’s Imperial. Yes, this Imperial – the longest mass production sedan ever made (235.3”!), and Chrysler’s most expensive product – gets overlooked by its Cordoba garage-mate. It’s not due to rarity (12 times more ’77 Cordobas were made than ’73 Imperials); it’s more likely that the same styling that attracted hundreds of thousands of customers four decades ago still attracts attention at car shows. As opposed to the Imperial, which bears a strong resemblance to many other Chrysler Corporation products, the Cordoba possesses a distinctive design all its own.
Or to put it more humorously, while I was admiring the Imperial, my wife (not a Mopar fan) came over and asked me “Why are you looking at that Dodge?” Ouch.
Regardless of its similarity to other Chrysler Corporation Fuselage cars, I still love this Imperial. How I yearn to stretch out in a roomy interior like this one, with blue Cologne-grain leather and simulated rosewood trim… a perfect antidote for today’s dull, gray, confining cabins!
Back to our Cordoba, we can see how different its own interior appears. The checkmate cloth with cream-colored vinyl accents give the car an airy, welcoming feel. This particular car is well equipped with air conditioning, power windows and locks, and a power drivers’ seat. Like most domestic cars of its era, the Cordoba was highly customizable – though its base price was low, buyers could outfit one with as few or as many options as they (and their wallets) desired. When well equipped like this car, a Cordoba was a very respectable ride.
The owner thoughtfully displayed the Cordoba’s window sticker, which of course is fascinating. Starting with a $5,418 base price, this car piled on nearly $3,000 worth of options. My eye is always drawn to the smallest-ticket items on a window sticker such as this, which here included Deluxe Windshield Wipers ($9.65), Pedal Dress-up ($8.95), and Heavy Duty Shock Absorbers (a bargain at $6.80). I’d love to have an option list like this in a modern car, rather than just ordering the “LX package” and calling it a day.
Of course I scan the big-ticket items too, which included an 8-Track Stereo ($332.25) and Air Conditioning ($517.85). The costliest item, though, was the Crown Vinyl Roof package, which set the original buyer back $733.25 – that’s $3,200 in today’s dollars!
The Crown Vinyl roof is so named because it is equipped with an opera lamp – not the run-of-the-mill side opera lamps common in the 1970s, but rather a single light band that wraps over the roof, connecting one B-pillar to the other. When illuminated, this provided a tiara-effect, hence the name. And a justification for the astonishing price. Although rare, this was evidently a popular enough choice to keep it on Cordoba’s option list from 1977 through 1979.
1977 was the Cordoba’s last stellar sales year. ’78 models were redesigned with stacked rectangular headlamps and other updates – none of which did the original design any favors, nor did they succeed in generating new customer interest. Sales fell by a third that year, and again for ’79. Even after being downsized and squared out for 1980, the Cordoba could never recapture the magic formula of these 1975-77 models.
The Cordoba isn’t everyone’s preferred type of magic, but this one sure put me under a spell. I hope I run into this pair of cars again – after taking time to take in this Cordoba and the Imperial, the Malaise Era doesn’t seem so malaise-y after all…
Photographed at the Sully Antique Car Show in Chantilly, Virginia in June 2019.
Note: a rerun of an older post.
Related Reading:
1977 Chrysler Cordoba: Sin Cuero Corintio Robert Kim
1978 Chrysler Cordoba: The Fine Little Chrysler Paul Niedermeyer
I was a jaded and cynical 10-year old when these came out. I saw the Cordoba as a blatant crib of the A-body and A-special coupes from GM. But why not? The GMs were some of the best-selling cars of the era. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I suppose.
My Dear Guests! WELCOME to Fantasy Island! I am your host and Tatoo will guide you to your Cordoba with RICH Corinthian Leather! Another FANTASY! I’LL END it there!
For a Chrysler, it really couldn’t be topped in youthfulness, class and looks. Chryslers in my family were always upscale family cars, so the Cordoba was the Chrysler you bought for yourself. These were highly admired.
78 Cordoba sales did not go down because of the square stacked headlights. They went down because the leaders in the segment (Cutlass Supreme, Grand Prix, Monte Carlo) were downsized and restyled to have more angles and less curves.
Chrysler predicted the 75 based Cordoba would be seen as oversized and out of style in 78 and switched marketing and production to the LeBaron Coupe to try to be a closer alternative to the GMs.
That may well be, but the “square stacked headlights” did NOT help the look.
Dad had a 75 Cordoba. I remember it had a 360 engine leather bucket seats ha. It had a console with the gear shift on the floor I remember it had a button on the floor in line with the high beam button for the headlights, the other button worked the radio and the lights on the fenders for the blinkers the one on the driver side would light up if you were mashing the accelerator to much to let you know that you were pushing down to much to let you know you were accelerating to hard it was that Chrysler brown exterior and like a tan interior I liked that car so much I bought a 77 Cordoba when I got older not as fancy as my dad’s 75 I just love those Cordoda
Love the interior on that Cordoba. Looks like something from an earlier era, like 1950s malt shop vibes. A nice break from the dark leather or velour that I typically associate with late 70s luxury cars.
I’m always amused by the (corny?) names the manufacturers gave things. Corinthian leather (not here). Elk-grain vinyl roof (is elk-hide textured like that?). Cologne-grain leather (the mind boggles here) in the Imperial.
I’m all for options, but the names!
My brother bought a Cordoba to tour the west coast not as nice as that example his was bone vinyl top over sienna same colours as my VJ Regal and Centura, bought in Washington state sold in LA it didnt give any issues but wasnt a great car to drive, it didnt handle but a nice cruiser.
I never liked this vinyl roof treatment that tried to bridge the beltline and the rear deck with a straight line. But the rest of the car is great!
I still remember seeing a new New Yorker at a dealership around this time, amazed that there was such a thing as metallic black paint!
No one has commented on the mag wheels on the Imperial. I will. What the heck?
I don’t mind em actually. Torque Thrust II’s. (I had a set on my 89 Crown Vic Wagon).
Classic, but not as ‘gruff’ as Cragars would be. IMO
Just made one below. Yikes!
Nice Cordoba. That said, I would take the Imperial 100% of the time over the Cordoba.
But heck, If I’m dreaming, I’ll just take both please.
Why in the name of all that is holy would someone put blackwalls an mag wheels on an Imperial?! It’s like pairing Converse high-tops with a formal evening gown.
Back to the Cordoba. I have new appreciation for these. I mostly saw clapped-out versions with missing hubcaps and torn vinyl roofs by the mid to late 80s. My father-in-law bought one new, and my wife learned to drive in it sitting on a phone book and using the hood ornament as an aiming device. It had the soft Corinthian leather in bucket seats too.
These cars really saved Chrysler’s bacon in the 70s. The Valiant, Dart and Duster sold in decent numbers, but profit margins on those cars were probably half of what the profit per car was on the Cordoba. Originally intended as a Plymouth, it was a smart move making it a Chrysler instead.
When the LeBaron/Diplomat were introduced, the Cordoba/Magnum were referred as “Full-sized” while the LeBaron/Diplomat were referred as “Mid-sized”. All ‘77-79 LeBarons/Diplomats rode a 112 inch wheel-base.
Deluxe windshield wipers? Another term for an intermittent or variable speed intermittent system?