1976 Chrysler Cordoba need help decoding build tag

[Pete Kaczmarski]

I know it is not a "C" Body but I thought someone could help me. I bought this car from a man in California. He purchased it a couple of months ago as it had a "Mechanics Lien" on it. What is unique is it has the very rare "P" code motor in the vin. It had a lot of repair orders in the glove box, probably totaling 20k. It is a survivor with original paint, showing 67,000 miles. It has a Pennsylvania inspection sticker on it. The last time I saw one with this drivetrain was 40 years ago. Thanks for your help.

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

400 HP motor

 

[DCMC]

Nice car, I always liked these in triple black it shows the lines of the car the best.

 

[69CoronetRT]

Most of the codes you are looking for are posted in the Data and Color and Trim books posted in the Hamtramck Historical Library. There's probably a couple of codes on the tag that will be harder to determine so if you need help, LMK.

The 1970 Hamtramck Registry Library Page (1975 - 1979)

FWIW...The Windsor plant did not code the actual radio code on the tag leading a lot of people to believe a car was, er hem....'radio delete'. That is not the case. Windsor simply stoped coding the radio on the tag after the 1973 MY.

The P code 400-4bbl was the non California 400-4bbl option. So a 400-4bbl sold in CA = E64. A 400-4bbl sold in 49 other states = E68. I do not know how one would ever determine installation percentages to determine 'rare' or not but given it was available in 49 more states than the E64 assembly, one might presume that it was actually more plentiful than the E64. That's hard to know.

https://www.hamtramck-historical.co...ataBook/1976/76_Chrysler_engineering_0004.jpg

 

[CBODY67]

When those cars were new, I wanted one. With the 400HO engine, TF, HD suspension, PW, PB, Tilt, Cruise, Leather buckets and console, and a full vinyl roof (although I did not like the "Halo" design. I would have also opted for the 2.71 in SureGrip (3.21 was std). Of course, W23s as CAR AND DRIVER blamed the brake fade on a small Fury 400 TQ single exh car on the Polycast wheels not allowing for brake cooling air. Although the Polycast wheels looked neat and were 15x7.

Reading in the Dealer Order Guide, the 400HO (being law enforcement oriented) was still basically a '68 RR 383 but in a low compression 400. Windage tray, roller timing chain, moly in the upper compression ring, AND was a REGULAR FUEL engine with NO CATS and true dual exhaust . . . all from the factory. On the lower driver's door shell, there was a "NO CAT", Maple Leaf sticker (normal cars had "CATALYST" in a different colored sticker. With dual exhaust, the fuel tank was only 20 gallons.

The local dealer ordered a triple-black '76 Cordoba for a man who owned a smaller liquor store in a town about 50 miles from us. With the dual muffler/dual resonator exhaust, it sounded just like the Texas Dept of Public Safety cars did. (wh9ich the dealership serviced). We kind of suspected the guy might have been bootlegging, all things considered. LOL

Basically, those Cordobas with the r00HO motor were, in many respects, a 2-dr police car. IF I had ordered one, I looked closely at the instrument cluster and determined that a Certified speedometer would fit perfectly.

Unfortunately, "no money" so that car was a daydream to me.

I tbose times in TX, there was still resistance to unleaded fuels, although with cat converters, it was necessary. I know that Fenner-Tubbs CP in Lubbock sold some Cordobas with that engine every so often. One I saw on the lot was the medium blue with matching velour split bench in it. An incognito hot rod, for sure. If I had been a Chrysler dealer back then, I would have had many of them on the lot, just for those that did not desire a cat converter car for reasons of starting a grass fire, back then. The fuel filler necks also had the "big hole" in them rather than the unleaded fuel, smaller hole, filler neck.

Congrats on the purchase! Enjoy the Slap-Stick shifter, too!

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[PeugFra]

Here's another fender tag from a 1976 'Doba, so you can get a feel for what's normal and what's special:

The 1977 Chryco Sales Codes List may also answer some of your questions.

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

When those cars were new, I wanted one. With the 400HO engine, TF, HD suspension, PW, PB, Tilt, Cruise, Leather buckets and console, and a full vinyl roof (although I did not like the "Halo" design. I would have also opted for the 2.71 in SureGrip (3.21 was std). Of course, W23s as CAR AND DRIVER blamed the brake fade on a small Fury 400 TQ single exh car on the Polycast wheels not allowing for brake cooling air. Although the Polycast wheels looked neat and were 15x7.

Reading in the Dealer Order Guide, the 400HO (being law enforcement oriented) was still basically a '68 RR 383 but in a low compression 400. Windage tray, roller timing chain, moly in the upper compression ring, AND was a REGULAR FUEL engine with NO CATS and true dual exhaust . . . all from the factory. On the lower driver's door shell, there was a "NO CAT", Maple Leaf sticker (normal cars had "CATALYST" in a different colored sticker. With dual exhaust, the fuel tank was only 20 gallons.

The local dealer ordered a triple-black '76 Cordoba for a man who owned a smaller liquor store in a town about 50 miles from us. With the dual muffler/dual resonator exhaust, it sounded just like the Texas Dept of Public Safety cars did. (wh9ich the dealership serviced). We kind of suspected the guy might have been bootlegging, all things considered. LOL

Basically, those Cordobas with the r00HO motor were, in many respects, a 2-dr police car. IF I had ordered one, I looked closely at the instrument cluster and determined that a Certified speedometer would fit perfectly.

Unfortunately, "no money" so that car was a daydream to me.

I tbose times in TX, there was still resistance to unleaded fuels, although with cat converters, it was necessary. I know that Fenner-Tubbs CP in Lubbock sold some Cordobas with that engine every so often. One I saw on the lot was the medium blue with matching velour split bench in it. An incognito hot rod, for sure. If I had been a Chrysler dealer back then, I would have had many of them on the lot, just for those that did not desire a cat converter car for reasons of starting a grass fire, back then. The fuel filler necks also had the "big hole" in them rather than the unleaded fuel, smaller hole, filler neck.

Congrats on the purchase! Enjoy the Slap-Stick shifter, too!

Enjoy!
CBODY67

For me, growing up in the 1960s-1970's I hung out at a local full-service "Skelly" station. There was a customer who had a twin to this car. This was in the day of no computers, so I looked at the "Walker" exhaust book because of the oddity of dual w/o cats and it sure stuck with me. Decades later, finding one is rare, but like my '79 Dodge Magnum GT (which I added the Police speedo) and my 1970 Plymouth Fury III (ex-Washington State Patrol) cars. All I enjoy with other cars that influenced me from my past.

 

[Mike Parker]

Did it come with the lean burn garbage?

 

[CBODY67]

Om s world of "cars with cats", the THREE Chrysler V-8s were the exception to the rule. 318 2bbl, 360HO, and 400HO. The 360HO and 400HO were full-dual exhausts w/o cats. ALL engines which could go into vehicles for law enforcement OR Federally-owned cars which might encounter "taller grass" away from the pavement OR municipally-owned vehicles for entities which had not yet converted to unleaded fuel.

Additionally, these cars did not have "Unleaded Fuel Only" on the gas gauge!

Even AFTER those first years of unleaded fuel and cat converters, Chrysler STILL produced true-dual; exhaust cars. I found a hulk of a 1979 Gran Fury 360-4bbl former local sheriff's car in a local salvage yard. The powertrain was gone, BUT the dual exhaust was still there, so I removed it and the related floorpan heat shields, plus the rh exh manifold for it. All of it found a place under my '80 Newport 360-2bbl car. I also noted that the front section of the floorpan had mounting places for a console shift! As the Cordoba 399 had, and a lh hump to clear the lh cat converter. I also got all of the sheet metal type screws which held the lh head shields on, for good measure. I managed to tweak the lh converter angle a bit for better clearance, over time, but never had or saw any heat issues on the floorpan's factory undercoat.

I was always baffled why a lh power seat was not available on the cat convertered dual exhaust cars. One year at Mopar Nats, I happened upon a '79 St. Regis with a 440 in it. I talked to the owner. The car did start out as a genuine 360 HO law enforcement car, as a Fird Chief's car. I aksed to look inside the car, under the seat, and discovered that the seat tracks were just inches apart, with an adapter plate for each inner seat track stud, to move the floorpan mounting outward to clear the cat converter hump! Which made the already narrow seat track mounting dimensions even tighter. NO room for any type of power seat drive assy, period. Mystery resolved!

The Gen 1 Cordoba was a neat car. Probably the BEST of its class, as to style, performance, and classiness. Mr. Montalban helped the allure of the car, too! Aspirational to many, yet with the heart of a HOT ROD underneath, if desired. All emissions legal!

Y'all enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[CBODY67]

Did it come with the lean burn garbage?

No computers for engine controls on any of the 400HO motors that model year.

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

Did it come with the lean burn garbage?

No Lean Burn from the Factory. Although I have the Lean Burn on my '79 Magnum GT, '78 New Yorker St Regis Coupe, and my '79 New Yorker, all run fine.

 

[mrfury68]

What a nice Cordoba! Perfect color and power train combo too. I was 13 years old in’75 when the Cordoba made its debut and loved them ever since. I bought my first one in ‘87, it was my first “nice” daily driver.

 

[CBODY67]

By the 1980 model year, ELB had evolved into "Electronic Spark Control".

When I bought my 1980 Newport 360 2bbl, I had heard stories about how bad the ELB computers did not like hot engine compartments and the TSB on relocating the computers to the passenger compartment. So I ordered a Chrysler replacement computer for it, from Chrysler.

A friend was having (somewhat self-induced) starting issues on his 1978 Cordoba 400 4bbl, so one Saturday after work, I went to get my computer to see if it might help his issues. No change, BUT the part number on my computer was the same as the one on his 1978 computer! That got me thinking!

One observation I had when the engines were new was how much quieter and more-energetic they sounded than the non-ELB engines. It also seemed that the whole system was based on voltages and resistances from the various sensors. Rather than use the Chrysler computer diag "box", the whole system could be troubleshooted with a VOM. Which is just what the Chilton manual I had did!

We traded for an Aspen station wagon that was running poorly. I got my manual and offered it to our used car tech to see what was going on. After about a day of checking things, a sensor or two and the car was running well again! No computer issues, just "maintence issues" of sorts. The Chrysler computer-checker box seemed to fail every computer that was hooked to it, seemingly immediately. So I wonder how many were needlessly failed when it might have been something else?

I came to suspect that aftermarket techs shunned the systems as they did not understand them, but "No complaint" were heard from the GM engine modules, by comparison. So rather than trouble shoot the ELBs, they were "condemned" and hacked-away from the cars by people who did not really know what they were doing. Trade-in valve got way too check for the cars, which also put them into customer demographics who really could not afford to fix them right, so they got hacked with the wrong parts and things deteriorated form there, unfortunately. Really nice cars got trashed and went to an early grave as a result, to me. When all it really would have needed was a TQuad replacement Holley 4175 and the MP Electronic Ignition conversion kit, plus some decent installation techniques.

In modern times, those ELB cars and the later EFI Imperials would be great places for a modern self-learning EFI that also does the ignition timing activities to reside.

Just MY observations and experiences. YMMV
CBODY67

 

[69CoronetRT]

So a 400-4bbl sold in CA = E64. A 400-4bbl sold in 49 other states = E68

I'd like to amend my response.

Here are two 76 Cordobas sold by the same non California dealership.

The January car came with the E68 assembly.
The June car came with the E64 assembly.

Meaning, here's an example of the E64 assembly being sold outside of California.

Neither car is listed as being a "Sold Car" means both cars could be Sales Bank cars. Given the time of the model year and scaling back on inventory, I'm guessing the June car, at least, was a Sales Bank car but I don't know for sure.


(There's lots of other interesting stuff on the paperwork if you are into that kind of detail)

 

[CBODY67]

According to www.hamtramck-historical.com Library, the E68 400 dual exhaust motor was not available in CA. Not available in conjunction with the N95 Emissions Package.

The E64 400 4bbl single exhaust motor was available with N95. An interesting item is that the E64 and E68 both had the 268-284 cam in both engines. As the 400 2bbl had the normal 260-268 cam. This information in the "Other/Accessories" listings for 1976.

Generally, a CA Emissions car could be sold in other states, just as the Hi-Alt cars could be sold in other states, except CA. So it appears the E64 was a 49-state option, with N95 added for a car sold and registered in California.

CBODY67

 

[Mr C]

Check out For BBodies only discussion of the 75-79 cars...the P code 400 was actually pretty rare. Most of the last gen B bodies were small blocks and most of the 400s were of the low-po single exhaust variety (LB depending on the year).

 

[CBODY67]

I highly suspect the bulk of 400HOs were in law enforcement vehicles, B and C-bodies. As I recall hearing that cat-convertered vehicles could not have access to federal lands due to the heat factor of the exh system and potential grass fires. That is what I heard from people in the dealership industry, back then. BTAIM

In that point in time, the emphasis was on fuel economy and lower emissions, so a good 360 2bbl worked fine for many buyers. In the early years, the 400 was the base engine, but a 360 or 318 could be substituted at no charge. Things were more about "stylin' and profilin" than ripping pavement up in giant smokey burnouts. STILL, IF one knew how to work the options, a very neat and interesting Cordoba COULD be optioned pretty close to a real police car (if that mattered). With some of the few items being bolted-on.

The Magnum XE w/GT Package was a daring car for that time! Yet the similar Chrysler Cordoba w/300 Package did not have the same visual or desirable impact.

But to me, the base Cordobas were really neat and nice cars. Good enough to get Ford to cross a Torino with a Cougar and get the Torino Elite. Another really nice car. Ad the Trailer Package and 351HO and it became another incognito performance car of the times.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

 

[Mr C]

I highly suspect the bulk of 400HOs were in law enforcement vehicles, B and C-bodies. As I recall hearing that cat-convertered vehicles could not have access to federal lands due to the heat factor of the exh system and potential grass fires. That is what I heard from people in the dealership industry, back then. BTAIM

In that point in time, the emphasis was on fuel economy and lower emissions, so a good 360 2bbl worked fine for many buyers. In the early years, the 400 was the base engine, but a 360 or 318 could be substituted at no charge. Things were more about "stylin' and profilin" than ripping pavement up in giant smokey burnouts. STILL, IF one knew how to work the options, a very neat and interesting Cordoba COULD be optioned pretty close to a real police car (if that mattered). With some of the few items being bolted-on.

The Magnum XE w/GT Package was a daring car for that time! Yet the similar Chrysler Cordoba w/300 Package did not have the same visual or desirable impact.

But to me, the base Cordobas were really neat and nice cars. Good enough to get Ford to cross a Torino with a Cougar and get the Torino Elite. Another really nice car. Ad the Trailer Package and 351HO and it became another incognito performance car of the times.

Enjoy!
CBODY67

This is somewhat born out it the numbers...when you look at the last gen Bbodies, even when you look at the "image" cars like the Roadrunner and Charger Daytona, most are small bocks, like 318s, or the low-po 400. It was clearly no longer about the smokey burnouts and very much about the cost of fuel.

 

[PursuitSpecial]

My Gran Fury has this engine, the E68 is the high performance/heavy duty version of the E64 4bbl which was the most common engine for non-police applications. In 1977 and 78 the E68 was equipped with lean burn and single exhaust with a catalytic converter as standard, unlike previous iterations due to emissions. The internals were mostly unchanged, it got everything any HP police engine did as part of the A38 package. Factory claimed horsepower is 190, no different than the E64 despite the HP camshaft. My 5000lb car will run 10.60s at 68mph in the 1/8 which suggests more like 220-230 hp like the earlier engines based on the online calculator, granted I removed the catalytic converter and lean burn so it basically is the older engine.

 

[Pete Kaczmarski]

New vinyl top put on by upholsterer and picked up today.