The Chrysler Cordoba: Like a '60s muscle car, but not | Low-Buck Tech

In reply to 06HHR (Forum Supporter) :

I wonder if you could even open the doors on a car that size when parked in a modern sized parking space. 

That's assuming the rows are spaced wide enough for it to make the swing into the space. 

I had a 78 Cordoba in college. Driving home from the beach, the rear perches for the rear leaf springs rusted out and popped up through the trunk. The rear axle was on the bump stops...and no one noticed. We had a full trunk and she kinda sagged already. I fixed it by lifting the car and sliding some pressure-treated lumber through the perches. She served me for another year, making beer runs and such. Then she became a parade float which ultimately killed her.  She had survived an engine fire put out with saltwater and fixed with electrical tape, but not fraternity float duty. 

In reply to No Time :

I had problems in compact spaces with my Firebird when I had it back in the aughts, i couldn't imagine parking a 72 New Yorker today.  Those doors go on for miles and miles.

I'm glad this article came back up to the top, not least for Rrrich, Corinthian Leatherrrr. I drove my first Lemons race at NJMP last month, and we got to meet Jim in the best way.

The Princess Buttercup Foxstang decided to start leaking gas, which is an unforgiveable sin at Lemons for good reason. Our first suspicion was the dry-rotted gas tank neck seal. Not available at any of the local parts places, so the team walked the pits with assorted rubber pieces and asked if anyone had anything. Jim said "that's a filler neck seal" and checked his Big Book of Spares. Voila!

It turns out that Mopar and Ford must have bought from the same supplier, the Mopar part fit great.

Great guy, fun cars to see on track.

In reply to stuart in mn :

I bought an 81 IMperial to do a similar build. 

Setting all that aside, if you lower your standards a bit, the general layout of a Cordoba is very similar to a 1968 Charger R/T’s, which means classic muscle car handling (poor) and braking (also poor). 

Trivia - the brakes ont he Cordoba and other late '70s B and R bodies used to be a pretty popular upgrade for 1960s era Mopars until the junkyard supply ran out, being about an inch larger in diameter for the front discs. I have a set on my Dart.

VegasNick said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

I bought an 81 IMperial to do a similar build. 

"It would take all the power in the Grand Coulee Dam to get that thing over 200mph".  Richard Petty, the year before he switched to Pontiac.

Streetwiseguy said:

VegasNick said:

In reply to stuart in mn :

I bought an 81 IMperial to do a similar build. 

"It would take all the power in the Grand Coulee Dam to get that thing over 200mph".  Richard Petty, the year before he switched to Pontiac.

Petty had been spoiled by the "fuselage" design Charger that he ran all the way up till '78.  That design was perhaps the best there ever was right up until the mid '80s T-birds that would probably have set records at Bonneville if they'd chosen to do so.  

I bet my friend's Cordoba is still dieseling in a corner of some parking lot somewhere.

I didn't know the Cordoba was a Dodge Monaco coupe!  While in my teens, my dad bought a 71 Dodge Monaco with a 383--this was a very potent motor without any mods and it could sufficently propel that gargantuan car down the road.  The car was "quick" in the 1980's but handling was not a strong point.  Ours was a strange irridescent green color with a back vinyl top and black interior.  You could fit four children in back, three adults up front (bench seat), and scores of dead bodies sideways in the trunk--largest trunk on a passenger car I have ever seen.

In reply to DavyZ :

Wrong Monaco.  1971 was a C body.

1977 Monaco was available as a B-body.



In both sedan and coupe.

You DO know why a Super Bee is called that?  What better name to apply to a super B body?  B just became Bee for marketing 

MadScientistMatt said:

Trivia - the brakes ont he Cordoba and other late '70s B and R bodies used to be a pretty popular upgrade for 1960s era Mopars until the junkyard supply ran out, being about an inch larger in diameter for the front discs. I have a set on my Dart.

They're actually easier to find now than they ever were. After they disappeared from the yards, for a brief, shining moment there was a supply of Brembo parts - at one point I bought the remaining couple of pallets and moved them cheap to other moparheads. But now you can get a variety of them through Rock Auto for $50-60 each which is probably less real money than I was selling them for 20 years ago. Great upgrade, with several caliper choices. The Viper calipers fit under a 15 inch steelie.