Calendar Car: 1978 Chrysler Cordoba
The Cordoba was a big success for Chrysler when it was introduced in 1975. For the brand that had sworn off of smaller cars, they probably breathed a sigh of relief when one model of the Cordoba outsold the entire full-size Chrysler line. But by 1978, Thunderbird and Cougar XR-7 had been downsized/revised and the General Motors personal luxury cars, the Cutlass Supreme, the Regal, the Grand Prix, and the Monte Carlo had been downsized. So it was time for a refresh of the original Cordoba. Here is a 1978 Chrysler Cordoba for sale here on Craigslist in Bennington, Nebraska for $7,250. Thanks go out to Barn Finds reader Pat L for bringing this car to our attention.
The interior is loaded with power windows, power door locks, power seat, working 8-track tape player, tilt wheel, cruise control, rear defroster, Chronometer clock, and you guessed it, rich Corinthian leather. The best I can tell, the driver’s seat is showing a little wear, but the rest of the interior looks great. The passenger power window motor was recently replaced.
Of all 1978 Chrysler Cordobas, only about 4.7% of them had a power sunroof like this one which works great. This Cordoba was purchased new in Los Gatos, California and spent all of its life in California until a few years back when it went to Omaha.
This is a rust free car with only 50,000 miles. The car has forged aluminum road wheels. It is finished in Spinnaker White with a white vinyl landau top. As noted earlier, this was a restyle of the original 1975 Cordoba and used stack rectangular headlights. The rear looked remarkably like a 1977 Pontiac Grand Prix.
This Cordoba has the 360 cubic inch V-8 with a 4 barrel carburetor and No Lean-Burn. The air conditioning clutch was recently replaced and the transmission fluid and rear end fluid flushed. The TorqueFlite automatic transmission shifts smoothly. The original paperwork and manuals are provided with the car.
This Cordoba was featured on an automotive calendar in 2017. The car looks wonderful, but my concern would be its salvage title. The seller says it is due to a title error at the California DMV that they were unwilling to remedy. Would the title error be a concern of yours?
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Comments
10 minutes on a lift will tell you if it’s a salvage car or mistake. Looks like a creampuff to me!
While the seller does does not say, if I may speculate a bit, it could go something like this. FYI, I was the DMV person for a few junkyards in CALIF. ANY car sold to a licensed vehicle dismantler in Ca. must be “junked” on paper. A few can slip by, owner or friend of the owner re-regs b4 paper work catches up. When you are dealing with 75-100 cars a week, most “get junked”. At the yards that I worked at we had a lot of “charity donation” cars. Many clean one old person owned cars. I got one, in 93ish. 79 Monza v6 hatch, 65k miles clean has could be, yard paid $250. I bought “on the hook” (tow truck) 4 $750.
Bennington? Heck, this baby’s only a 20 minute drive from my house in Omaha!! And the rare power glass sunroof to boot?! Triple white; probably my favorite color combination too. I know a guy that does upholstery here that could re-skin the driver’s seat; he does excellent work! Add the fact that it’s a NON “lean burn” 360 4bbl., and this Cordoba is perfect, IMHO. Yes–even better than the `79 “300” edition! Now if I can only find $7,250……..
The biggest selling feature in my opinion is that the seller is including a framed and autographed photo of Ricardo Montalban. Click on the Craigslist ad to see!
♫Foghat!!!! AWWWRITE…….♪
My half-sister had one of these in a ’79 model…wire wheels, red interior, 318. It made a nice highway cruiser, but we were visiting friends out in the country once and upon leaving, the torque converter gave it up. After fixing that, the wheels started rusting badly and it just didn’t look the same with steel wheels
Aah, smell that Corinthian lather! Many Corinthians gave up their hides for this car.
You had me at white interior and power sunroof!
That driver’s seat looks to be serviceable without getting restitched- still though, nice classic that appears honestly presented!
Rented one of these when I was in Boston on business.
Nice car. Guess someone else thought it was nice too.
It was stolen from the motel second night I was there.
My father bought a 76′ Cordoba with a 400 and Lean burn, had to change the computer once which was the only problem it had in eight years, before he traded it in for a Jag, plus. What a mistake he made. He had all kinds of problems with it.
Just needs some Superfly round headlights….
Lotsa car for the money……..
I had one of these in dark green, with a white landau top and the same white leather interior. I didn’t have all those options, though, and mine had the 400 with the Carter thermobog carburetor and the Lean Burn system. Must have been nice when it was new, but by the time I got it, it was a worn out nickel and dime nightmare and never did run right with that carter carb on it. This one, however, looks gorgeous, the 360 is a great engine, it has all the rare options, I hope it finds a good home. Not much demand for these, though.
The branded title will hurt the price and I suspect $5000 is the number to be sold at. I really like this era cars including my ’79 Dodge Magnum GT.
I have 2 mostly complete magnums 78-9 plus parts from another car if interested. Tacoma Wa. [email protected]
The last of Mopar’s legendary B-body intermediates; the Cordobas and Magnums are excellent cars!