It must be the rich corinthian leather but somehow I find myself obsessed with a recent CL find of an 82 Cordoba of all things.
Going to look at it saturday, I still dont know why....
It must be the rich corinthian leather but somehow I find myself obsessed with a recent CL find of an 82 Cordoba of all things.
Going to look at it saturday, I still dont know why....
All I read was Ricardo Montalban and automatically had "rich corinthian leather" stuck in my head, before I even read this.
Zomby woof wrote:
Is it just me or does he look like he should be Garth's grandfather?
"I know my own needs..." 
SVreX wrote: "I know my own needs..."
"The small Chrysler" ??? in 1975 ??? sure, compared to a Newport or an Imperial !! 
Chebbie_SB wrote: "The small Chrysler" ??? in 1975 ??? sure, compared to a Newport or an Imperial !!
Actually the Cordoba was the first time Chrysler produced anything other than a full sized car under the Chrysler nameplate. It was a big deal at the time (especially since earlier in the 70s Chrysler had proclaimed they would never build a small Chrysler)
JThw8 wrote:Chebbie_SB wrote: "The small Chrysler" ??? in 1975 ??? sure, compared to a Newport or an Imperial !!Actually the Cordoba was the first time Chrysler produced anything other than a full sized car under the Chrysler nameplate. It was a big deal at the time (especially since earlier in the 70s Chrysler had proclaimed they would never build a small Chrysler)
I guess I always considered the Cordoba a "Full Size"
(Granted, it has more hood than trunk...) time to review the '75 Chrysler product line...
Chebbie_SB wrote:JThw8 wrote:I guess I always considered the Cordoba a "Full Size" (Granted, it has more hood than trunk...) time to review the '75 Chrysler product line...Chebbie_SB wrote: "The small Chrysler" ??? in 1975 ??? sure, compared to a Newport or an Imperial !!Actually the Cordoba was the first time Chrysler produced anything other than a full sized car under the Chrysler nameplate. It was a big deal at the time (especially since earlier in the 70s Chrysler had proclaimed they would never build a small Chrysler)
Our impressions of full sized vs. mid sized have definitely changed over the years. Take a new Impala back to the 70s and try to tell someone its a full sized car and they'd laugh at you.
...And yet, take a new Civic back to the '80s and try to tell someone its a small car and they'd also laugh at you.
The plates need to read: KHANNNN.
Appleseed wrote: The plates need to read: KHANNNN.
Hahaha....Now I want to do it up donk style with that graphic all over the hood!
I've sometimes wanted to build a Cordoba with a mean big block under the hood. Not sure why, probably a sleeper thing.
JThw8 wrote: It must be the rich corinthian leather but somehow I find myself obsessed with a recent CL find of an 82 Cordoba of all things. Going to look at it saturday, I still dont know why....
Ugh, fake convertible top.
Under the skin it's mechanically the same as a Volare/Aspen or Diplomat/5th Avenue. Should be a 318 2bbl and a lockup version of a 904 in it. Probably has a 7 1/4" rear and either 2.45 or Bonneville dreaming 2.29 rear gears.
I have a set of those aluminum wheels on my wife's Challenger. If you get it and want to go to a different wheel combo keep me in mind. I wouldn't mind some as spares.
The 318 will have the later version of the dreaded Lean Burn system, unless it's already been replaced with an earlier carb and electronic ignition setup.
A 440 will fit in there real nice. E-body headers will work for the swap. A late '60's B-body rear will fit pretty well too.
The wheel wells are very generous. I had an '83 Mirada (the Dodge version of the '80's Cordoba). Ran 255/60-15's at all 4 corners with room to spare.
I find myself strangely drawn to the fake convertible top even.
Good info all of it, thank you! Dunno what the plans for it would be to be honest, probably just have some fun, fix what it needs, clean it up and send it on down the road. I have no real need for it but it's still terribly intriguing to me somehow.
My Grandfather had i believe a '78 Cordoba. It's a bit different than the one pictured. I remember thinking Rich Corintian Leather everytime i rode in it!
For the sake of the Cordoba, I hope it has the 318 which Wiki says "was much de-tuned" to 130 bhp. God forbid it has the slant 6 making even less !
(unless you will be putting something else in there...) 
Chebbie_SB wrote:SVreX wrote: "I know my own needs...""The small Chrysler" ??? in 1975 ??? sure, compared to a Newport or an Imperial !!
I was going to chime in about that, too!!! That thing was immense by today's standards.
a) I love that I instantly knew this was going to be a Cordoba thread before I clicked on it.
b) The 70's version is the more definitive Cordoba for me
c) JThw8 needs to pimp the hell out of that Cordoba!!! How cool would it be to have that thing nicely cleaned-up and getting it valet parked. That's gangsta stuff right there, folks.
MadScientistMatt wrote: I've sometimes wanted to build a Cordoba with a mean big block under the hood. Not sure why, probably a sleeper thing.
In one of my 80's car mags, there was an article about a Doctor who had a 426 Hemi transplanted into his Cordoba. Looked stock with the exception of the rims.
Chebbie_SB wrote: For the sake of the Cordoba, I hope it has the 318 which Wiki says "was much de-tuned" to 130 bhp. God forbid it has the slant 6 making even less ! (unless you will be putting something else in there...)
It is the 318. I dont want to go nuts with it so I may investigate what an intake and carb swap along with removal of the lean burn ignition can do for it.
JThw8 wrote:Chebbie_SB wrote: For the sake of the Cordoba, I hope it has the 318 which Wiki says "was much de-tuned" to 130 bhp. God forbid it has the slant 6 making even less ! (unless you will be putting something else in there...)It is the 318. I dont want to go nuts with it so I may investigate what an intake and carb swap along with removal of the lean burn ignition can do for it.
Bear in mind that these were right around 3400 lbs as far as the box stock engine...
JThw8 wrote:Chebbie_SB wrote: For the sake of the Cordoba, I hope it has the 318 which Wiki says "was much de-tuned" to 130 bhp. God forbid it has the slant 6 making even less ! (unless you will be putting something else in there...)It is the 318. I dont want to go nuts with it so I may investigate what an intake and carb swap along with removal of the lean burn ignition can do for it.
That's a cake walk and really wakes the car up. Easiest intake would be a used Edelbrock Performer. They are all over the place between $50-125. Sometimes even cheaper if the seller doesn't know what it is. 600-ish CFM works really nice on a stock 318.
Reman electronic distributor for something like a '75 318 Dart would do the trick. Wiring up the Mopar electronic ignition box isn't too bad. Doing a Google search on "mopar ignition diagram", the first, second, and eighth images are the illustrations I did for Frank Adkins' book "Chrysler Performance Upgrades."
None of them credit the book. The site hosting the first two images even placed their watermark over my artwork but didn't credit the source. Bastiges.
The book is out of print now, but most of my illustrations have been scanned and posted on assorted sites.
Here's uncredited images without the watermark:
4-Pin Module:
5-Pin Module:
And completely unrelated to the ignition, my charging system illustration:
Now with that out of the way, the other option is to wire up a 4-pin HEI module to the Mopar distributor. It's even easier than the Mopar module and doesn't require the ballast resistor. Sorry, I do not have a bastardized illustration to share of that.
Many thanks again Rob. A little wake up is all I'd be looking for. Beyond that some swaybars for a little less wallow and just cruise it a bit. It won't be a long term car for me unfortunately, too many other projects but I need an "easy win" simple project for a bit, getting burnt out on megabuilds.
Shall I assume that in the above diagrams the ignition module comes with the distributor and is not part of the existing wiring of the Cordoba?
That's another one of those cars that I didn't really like when they were new, but I'd get a kick out of now.
JThw8 wrote: Many thanks again Rob. A little wake up is all I'd be looking for. Beyond that some swaybars for a little less wallow and just cruise it a bit. It won't be a long term car for me unfortunately, too many other projects but I need an "easy win" simple project for a bit, getting burnt out on megabuilds. Shall I assume that in the above diagrams the ignition module comes with the distributor and is not part of the existing wiring of the Cordoba?
Yes, that Cordoba won't have any bits that will work for the swap short of the cap/rotor/wires. The 'Doba's distributor has no advance mechanism. It's good for EFI swaps, but not old school hot rodding.
The parts are all available individually at local parts stores, or you can get a full ignition kit from Mopar Performance. The kit contains the distributor, ballast resistor, ignition module, and wiring harness. The kit got expensive over the last few years. They are using a new distributor in the kit. It uses Mallory mechanical guts, not the stock Mopar guts. It's a very nice piece, but overkill in this situation.
You can do the junkyard run and scavange the wiring and bits from a late Dart or Duster, early Volare, or most any '70's to early '80's Dodge truck.
There is an extra step or two needed when converting from the Lean Burn setup. The Slant Six site has a night writeup on it:
If you can find a Dippy or '80's Gran Fury squad car in the yard the rear sway bar bolts right in. That will take a good bit of wallow out.
Those cars used rubber biscuits to isolate the K-member from the body for a cushy ride. Poly ones are available now, as are solid aluminum ones. Cast iron ones used to be available from Mopar for police/heavy duty service use.
The rear springs are sandwiched in rubber too. You can go poly there as well, or ditch the setup and use the shock plates from an earlier car. You'll need to fix the centering hole on the axle perch as well, but that's not that bad. The poly swap would be the easy win.
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