Disclosure: This site may receive compensation when you click on some links and make purchases.

Ran When Parked: 1978 Chrysler Cordoba!

The seller of this very evocative 1978 Chrysler Cordoba gets bonus points for not mentioning “Corinthian leather” in their listing! It is a beautiful car for the era and unfortunately was parked upon the owners’ deaths some time ago. It’s listed for sale here on Facebook Marketplace, as well as here on Barn Finds, and is located in Tyler, Texas. The asking price for this level of late 1970’s luxury: a mere $5,000!

We’re told that the car has been parked for approximately 10 years and was driven to the spot. The passenger side of the car looks great in pictures, showcasing all the glitz and glam that was Cordoba. I’m particularly partial (having worked for a hub cap store from 1983-1988) to the giant chromed plastic wheel covers that do a pretty decent job of simulating cast wheels. Apparently, they didn’t stay on very well over bumps because we sold a lot of singles to Cordoba owners!

Unfortunately, the driver’s side does not look quite as clean, although the seller maintains it’s just surface rust (and to their credit, uses this picture as the lead for their FB ad). While this can’t just be polished out, I’ve been amazed at what a skilled body shop can do blending new paint with old, so it might not be time for a full repaint just yet.

But let’s face it, the Cordoba was about how you felt inside it. Leather everywhere along with touches of fake (but impressive) gold and wood. The seller tells us the interior is in great shape!

courtesy of Allpar.com

Despite rather ordinary underpinnings, over 108,000 Cordobas were produced in 1978, even though it was only a refreshed 1977 model, with stacked rectangular headlights and sharper edges distinguishing it from its predecessors.

The rear seat looks hardly used!

The engine in this particular Cordoba is the larger 400 cubic-inch V-8 (a 318 was also available) and looks pleasingly stock. However, the seller tells us the car no longer starts, although no details are given. Thankfully, parts and expertise are plentiful for these engines if something beyond a tuneup is needed.

Part of the reason the car looks as nice as it does is the mere 82,000 miles it’s covered. Perhaps that’s why it still has all four wheel covers! Let us know what your Cordoba experiences are in the comments, and be sure to update us with the story if you buy this car!

Comments

  1. Avatar Ike Onick

    No need to mention the leather. Starting with this post, everyone else will.

    Like 10
    • Avatar tje

      If I recall, it was rich, Corinthian leather.

      I wondered how many Corinthian’s it took…

      Like 11
  2. Avatar Jim

    Kaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhnnnnnn!!!!!

    There, I didn’t mention the leather.

    Like 32
    • Avatar Ike Onick

      WINNER!!!!! Nicely played!

      Like 5
  3. Avatar Jim Alexander

    I worked as a summer student on the line at the Chrysler Windsor Assembly plant where this car was made. Beautiful and well made cars. Hope the buyer restores and enjoys this

    Like 4
  4. Avatar Vance

    Had a ’77 Doba as a senior in high school, was deflowered in the backseat, and those seats barely fit a couple of bags of groceries. Liked the round headlights a lot more than the stacked, it gave the car a more regal appearance. It had the 360 which was ok, but it was more of a cruiser. It was a pleasant car for a teenager, and for obvious reasons I always laugh when I see one.

    Like 7
    • Avatar Ike Onick

      You might want to either retract your statement or look up the meaning of “Deflowered”

      Like 5
      • Avatar Harriston Richardson

        I,m like you on this one Mr Onick, DEFLOWERED in the back seat, i,m gonna step out on a limb and assume this was posted by a woman, I Hope ,

        Like 1
      • Avatar Harriston Richardson

        But VANCE is a guys name,,RIGHT??? OKKK ,

        Like 0
      • Avatar JCA Member

        I think he meant he was desemenated?

        Like 0
    • Avatar Skorzeny

      Well, sure, you want to get into the back seat again…

      Like 0
    • Avatar MrBZ

      Hope the groceries went in before the deflowering.

      Like 1
  5. Avatar David Zornig

    We had these as rentals at the Budget office in our Texaco.
    Always heard a lot of swearing from the porters about the crud that would get trapped in those seat crevices.
    But these beauties were fun to drive around.

    Like 1
  6. Avatar Jack M.

    For sale for a mere $5,000? I hope there would be at least $2,500 in the trunk.

    Like 10
  7. Avatar Mikefromthehammer

    The leather was referred to as “fine” Corinthian leather. Not sure what coarse Corinthian leather would look like though.

    Like 4
    • Avatar Tab Patterson

      It was later changed to “Rich.”

      Like 0
  8. Avatar Ed

    My brother had a 1976 Charger, the Dodge version of the Cordoba. It had the 400BB, red with black leather. He taught me how to drive with that car!! Loved everything about it!!

    Like 4
  9. Avatar Steve Clinton

    There must have been an ocean breeze coming in from the driver’s side.

    Like 0
  10. Avatar Steve Clinton

    I always thought these were a blatant ripoff of the ’73 Monte Carlo.

    Like 3
    • Avatar DON

      That’s not uncommon in business ; Do you think the El Camino would have been introduced if the Ranchero didn’t debut two years earlier ? Or the Chevy II , and Camaro for that matter. I guess you could even say the Falcon was a blatant ripoff on the Lark.

      Like 0
  11. Avatar Sam Shive

    The 400 was a GUTLESS GAS HOG..That LITTLE BLEND on the drivers side done right is no less than a grand. The electronic ignition on these were garbage. Leave It Parked.

    Like 3
    • Avatar Jakespeed

      You’re selling the 400 short. Think of the 400 as a seriously over-bored 383: It’s a Short Stroke Big Block that when properly prepared can easily turn 7500 revs.

      The late Lee Hancock’s recipe from July, 1996 was
      400 block, bored .020” over (403.7 cid), 383 forged steel crank, TRW2388F +.040” pistons, (1.926” compression height), 1967 high Performance heads, closed chamber #915 castings 79cc, lightened piston pins, .0006” deck to piston, Mopar(Fel-Pro) .0039” head gasket, yields 10.19:1 compression. Shot-pein rods, balance, bush, ARP Rod Bolts, Port heads, and cast iron TQ intake. Replace the Lean Burn with a conventional
      Electronic Distributor, with a decent mechanical curve.

      These days, you’d use Trick Flow Heads and a Performer RPM Intake, Aluminum Water Pump Housing and Water Pump, H-Beam Rods, TTI 1-3/4” primary Tube Tuned Headers and Mandrel Bent True 2-1/2” dual exhaust with H-Pipes. But in the old days, you made do with what worked.

      Like 5
    • Avatar DON

      The lean burn system was garbage , ,the electronic ignition was not . As for gutless ? Hey , it was 1978 performance was gone and everything had a low horsepower ,emission laden engine.

      Like 1
  12. Avatar George Louis

    There were a TON of Cordoba built with the 360 V8 Engine you had a choice between 2 and 4 barrel options. I know as I had a 1975 Built in May 1975 with the 360 2 barrel option. For a little more money a customer could opt for the four-barrel carburetor which could still burn regular fuel and not unleaded.

    Like 2
  13. Avatar Mark

    What about Ricardo ? No one said anything.

    Like 5
    • Avatar RBC

      The plane…the plane!!!

      Like 5
  14. Avatar George Louis

    Mark said : What about Ricardo? A PLANE – A PLANE!!!!!!

    Like 1
  15. Avatar Vance

    Jim asked about Kahn or Dick if you please.

    Like 3
  16. Avatar MarkC

    I remember sitting in one and listening to the clock (“digital chronometer”) grind away on the cheap motor and gears of mid-seventies American junk like this.
    Yes, the 400 was an emission equipment encumbered low power gas hog but it had “lean burn” technology on it haha

    Like 0
  17. Avatar Fahrvergnugen Member

    de plain!! de plain, boss!

    Like 6
    • Avatar Don Eladio

      *plane

      Like 4
  18. Avatar JCA Member

    Why not spend a day to get it running and clean it up? It’s 80 degrees in Texas

    Like 4
  19. Avatar Steve Brown

    My dad bought one of these new in a pretty bronze color. Had the 400 V8 that was so strangled by the emissions and “lean burn” technology. I used to flip the air cleaner lid over to make it sound mean, lol.

    Like 2
  20. Avatar Terry

    Between the music, movies and cars, this “blast from the past” reminded me of just how badly 1978 sucked. And this thing ran when parked? That’s something, because that Lean Burn garbage barely ran when you were driving it. Nevertheless, if I decided to get really drunk and sacrifice my valuable garage space for this, once I sobered up then off comes the carburetor and intake, along with all the electronic engine “support” systems. On goes an Edelbrock intake and a Holley TBI, along with just about any aftermarket electronic ignition that may still be available. At least I’d have a Corinthian leather-surrounding lump that could get out of its own way.

    Like 1
    • Avatar 370zpp Member

      Terry, I’m sorry 1978 sucked for you. It didn’t for me. Rock and Roll was still rock. Phones were just phones. We weren’t overly concerned with being politicly correct. They hadn’t invented Aids. And you could pick up a used, actual muscle car for reasonable money.
      A great time to be young and single.

      Like 17
      • Avatar Frank Sumatra

        I’m with Terry. Disco, Boston, The Eagles and Meatloaf. Yuck.

        Like 0
      • Avatar 370zpp Member

        And to be clear fs, when I mentioned music, I was not talking about Boston and the Eagles…

        We also had tons of great contemporary music to choose from in those days; Montrose, Van Halen, Heart, Zappa, Queen, Rush, Max Webster, Bowie, Cheap Trick, The Who, Allman Brothers, do I need to go on?

        That’s what roared through my 6×9 rear deck mounts back in the day.

        Like 4
  21. Avatar Vin_in_NJ

    Was never a fan of the stacked headlights on these Monte Carlo wannabes. The single round headlights of the earlier years looked much better

    Like 5
    • Avatar DON

      Same with the Monte Carlo ; the round headlight 1973-1975 looked much better IMO

      Like 0
  22. Avatar Quentin Cecil Brown

    I suspect that having parked “in that spot” for 10 years the entire underside is likely rotted out.

    Like 0
  23. Avatar Don Eladio

    …all of this being said, it’s still a B-body and anything you can do to a ’71-’74 Charger or Road Runner, you can do to this. So, it’s possible to actually make a “real” car out of it.

    Like 1
  24. Avatar Vance

    My bad Ike, I was the pitcher not the catcher, happily surprised none the less.

    Like 1
    • Avatar Ike Onick

      LOL! As long as the ice cream didn’t melt!

      Like 0
  25. Avatar Bc

    It’s a stripper with crank windows, manual seat etc. May no mention of the leather because it could well be pleather/vinyl.

    Like 0
    • Avatar Bc

      The leather would be button-tufted according to the brochure…

      Like 0

Leave a Reply to Ike Onick Cancel reply

RULES: No profanity, politics, or personal attacks.

Become a member to add images to your comments.

*

Get new comment updates via email. Or subscribe without commenting.