1975 Cordobas from Windsor assembly plant.

[sauterd]

1
Daniel Roberge‎ to American Car Nostalgia 1930 - 1979 (All vintage pics)
1 hr ·
1975 Cordobas from Windsor assembly plant.

— in Windsor, Ontario.

 

[1978 NYB]

I can remember when those were new cars!

 

[Mr C]

Chargers in there too. I remember the buzz the Cordoba created, the Charger...not so much. The local dealer could not keep them on the lot.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Mine was from Windsor, white landau top

 

[Newport 66]

If I recall, both my Cordoba's came from the windsor plant: '75 (maroon / white top) and '77 (triple black with buckets and floor shift console) both 360's

 

[Wildbunch02]

My Dad had 2 of those, they were sharp!

 

[CBODY67]

Windsor was the origin for the first-gen Cordobas. I noticed that they all seemed to be of higher build quality than the other Chrysler plants. Which I knew was needed for the success of the car. Just nicer, overall, made for a nicely-executed car that was so important to Chrylser Corp and the Chrysler brand. So classy.

In walking around the new car shows of the time, I noticed that there were older couples checking out the car, sitting in it with smiled on their face. As well as seeing (on the road) the young family where the bread-winner had gotten that important "big job" and they could afford something nicer to drive.

It got good reviews in the Popular Mechanics surveys, too! One comment was "I don't meet myself on the road", which meant the car was popular, but not everybody had one. A car that meant the owner was "Movin' UP" in the world.

I would probably have ordered a 400HO, 2.71 axle ratio, W23 wheels, leather with console, AM/FM Stereo, PW, PS, in Gold over Gold. 1976 was my choice or years, with the tilt steering column that became available that model year. Later, a 1979 300 edition would have been neat, too. Never did make either one happen, though. Got close to a used '79 300, but it went somewhere else.

Thanks for posting those pictures!

CBODY67

 

[mrfury68]

I had a '76 Cordoba. It was my first "nice" daily driver. I usually had a $300 beater to drive everyday. It was triple burgundy and fairly loaded too. The 400 4bbl made the car fly, except when you had to stop for gas, which was often. Very nice personal luxury cars. I can remember the maple leaf on the door jamb. It was a Windsor car.

 

[CBODY67]

The cars also had a decal on the door for "Catalyst" or "Non-Catalyst" The Non-cat cars were had a special option code in the emissions area and could be 318-2bbl, 360HO, and 400HO. In other words, law enforcement/fleet vehicles. Or the earlier LB400 cars, too, I believe. 1976 model year.

Back then, there were still some restrictions about cat convertered vehicles being allowed in certain federal lands? Heat from the converters could potentially cause grass fires, or something like that. Even on their cat-cars, there was an environmental shield below the converter to keep grass and such from directly contacting the converter itself. Guess it was ok for it to touch the exhaust pipe a few inches forward or rearward of the converter?

I don't recall if the non-cat cars were also "regular fuel" cars? Which would have meant a fuel filler neck without the trap door restrictor.

Some dealers keyed into the non-cat option more than others. Even with the 400HO non-cat engine. Real dual exhausts!

CBODY67

 

[Dobalovr]

I can remember when those were new cars!

Still have my Dad’s 78 Cordoba bought new in 1979. Not much left unfortunately....stupid late 70’s sheet metal

 

[cm23uoc]

In walking around the new car shows of the time, I noticed that there were older couples checking out the car, sitting in it with smiled on their face. As well as seeing (on the road) the young family where the bread-winner had gotten that important "big job" and they could afford something nicer to drive.


CBODY67

Which sums up Bunkie Knudsens mid fifties observation: "You can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you cannot sell an old man's car to a young man."

 

[CBODY67]

Still have my Dad’s 78 Cordoba bought new in 1979. Not much left unfortunately....stupid late 70’s sheet metal

By the '78 model year, it seems that they started to "save money" in several areas. Rust treatment might be one, seam sealer caulk was an observed other place.

A good friend had a Cordoba that he bought new in the TX panhandle. Several years later, he started to see rust bubbling through the paint above the door windows. A strange place to see that! So he tried to trade with the Lubbock dealer to no avail. Ended up with a new fwd Cadillac.

We got a '75 Cordoba in on trade. That pumpkin orange color. It was a CA car. Evidence of rust bubbles starting on the lower vertical section of the deck lid. I raised the deck lid to look for evidence of damage repair. Found none, but did see that their use of seam sealer had gotten sloppy. Not full coverage. Where there was none, surface rust from the "itching" of the outer panel against the inner structure, though the pant. Where the seam sealer was, no such surface rust. Looked at the door skins and found similar. That, plus the tail light lens retention issue kind of turned me off to those cars which I so lusted after several years prior.

Possibly early signs of cost-cutting, considering what happened about 5 years later, model year wise.

Just some thoughts,
CBODY67

 

[Dobalovr]

That pumpkin orange color.

Mine was MU3 Caramel Tan Metallic very close to the Pumpkin you speak of. It is my favourite colour on a Chrysler much like K5 or K3.

This was taken last year. Hasn’t run in 15 years

 

[Samplingman]

Chrysler should bring back the Córdoba as a special edition 300. Aztec gold with Corinthian leather interior....

 

[Mr C]

My 79 squeezed between the M's...

 

[FK3 Sport Fury]

My favorite Cordoba story involves a friend of mine who's in retirement age now.When he got married back around 76/77 he gave his new wife a choice of whatever car she wanted to replace her aging Camaro.A neighbor down the street from them had a super nice,low mile 68 Shelby GT500 for around the price of a new car.She looked at the Shelby and liked it but wanted to look at new cars as well and you guessed it,she decided on a brand new Cordoba instead.
She sill lives in the same house (he left many years ago) but the neighbor still has the car with low miles and it's worth a mint.I'd imagine the Cordoba has been recycled a couple times now into new Hyundai's.

 

[CBODY67]

There's a short video at theoldmotor.com, on page three, at this time, of the Ford Dearborn Rouge plant. Starts with castings, components, engine operations, plus how the body is build on the '62 Fairlane (a unitized body car). Interesting at the differences in how it goes together than other cars of that era and later!

CBODY67

 

[Carmine]

A treasure of mine...

 

[Newport 66]

A treasure of mine...

View attachment 240626

That's very cool!! What a neat memento!!

 

[Snotty]

A treasure of mine...

View attachment 240626

I had a '79 same color as this! Was quite the POS but the 360 4bbl ran like a top!