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1978-1980 Chrysler Cordoba

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1978  The Cordoba received its first major exterior restyling this year. The rounds headlights were gone, replaced by twin rectangular headlights that were stacked on top of each other. The grill was a new cross-hatch design of tiny boxes. The rear of the trunk lid was smoothed out, removing the upside-down "U" character line. The rear taillamps were slightly changed, with the side-marker lamps reducing from three to two. The effect overall was to make the Cordoba look more luxurious and elegant, moving the Cordoba several steps away from the sportiness of the previous generation.

 

The rest of the Cordoba received little changes. All of the optional roof treatments were still available - Landau vinyl roof, Halo full vinyl roof, padded elk-grain Crown roof, T-bar roof, and the sun roof, which was now a power unit instead of manual. The 3-spoke steering wheel was now optional in leather.

 

The powertrain choices were still the same, the 400 V-8 was standard, with the 318 and 360 V-8 engines optional. The 318 V-8 now had the electronic lean-burn system, as did the 400 V-8. The TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic transmission now had a lock-up torque converter. The lock-up converter provided a direct mechanical linkage between the engine and rear-axle, increasing gas mileage.

 

 

1979  The big news for 1979 was the addition of the 300 and Special Appearance packages. The most obvious part of the Special Appearance package was the unique 2-tone paint, although the package included a list of other options. These included accent stripes, square-cornered opera windows, dual sport-styled color-keyed mirrors, and premium wheel covers. Although basically just a cosmetic treatment, the Special Appearance Package looked HOT!

 

Other changes in 1979 included the deletion of the Halo full vinyl roof from the option list, and the addition of semi-automatic air conditioning to the option list. The front grill was changed again , this time to a series of long vertical slots. The 400 cid V-8 was now history, with the 318 cid V-8 now the standard engine. The 360 V-8 was still optional.

 

The "300" package was an addition to the Cordoba that was available so late in the year that the Chrysler brochure did not even mention it. The 300 package included red leather bucket seats, a blackened-out grill, the 360 V-8, tachometer, leather wrapped steering wheel, special handling suspension, and a white exterior paint job. This was the first time that the "300" name was used on a car by Chrysler since 1971. Although the Cordoba 300 couldn't match the previous 300 cars in performance, it probably out-handled all previous 300 cars, and it was nice to see Chrysler at least attempt to return some of the performance characteristics to the Cordoba, a car that was obviously heading down the luxury car route.

 

    

 

 

1980  The Cordoba changed so radically in 1980, it actually switched platforms, from the B-body, to the J-body, which it now shared with the Chrysler LeBaron. Any hint of curviness was gone. The Cordoba was now all sharp edges, squared-off angles, and rectangular sides. The front grill was now a series of small vertical slats inside several slightly larger vertical slats. The 4-headlights were reduced to two. The hood ornament now held a Cordoba replica coin that was actually minted from the Franklin mint. In the rear, the taillamps were larger, rectangular, and covered the entire rear, minus the license plate holder. Body panels were now made of galvanized steel, which helped greatly in preventing rust. The entire car was downsized, 6-inches shorter and 300 pounds lighter than 1979. Although the removal of so much dead weight was probably a good thing, the Cordoba now looked so much like the Lebaron, you almost wondered why Chrysler bothered offering both.

 

The 360 V-8 was blasted from the option list. The standard engine was now the 225 cid slant six cylinder. The 318 cid V-8 was optional. The TorqueFlite 3-speed automatic with lock-up torque converter was still the sole transmission offered. For the first time, the optional bucket seats were made of vinyl instead of Corinthian leather, although optional Corinthian leather and vinyl seats were available on the Cordoba Crown. A center console and T-bar roof were still available to at least attempt to make the Cordoba sporty looking. Amazingly, the 3-spoke "Tuff" sport steering wheel returned as an option. A new wheel option was an incredible looking 5-spoke forged aluminum road wheel. A Sport Handling Package gave you heavy duty front and rear sway bars, heavy duty shocks and springs, heavy duty torsion bars, firm-feel power steering, and P215/70R15 raised white-letter tires. A new roof option was the Cabriolet, which covered the entire roof, giving it the look of a convertible top.

 

For the first time, a second model joined the Cordoba line. Called the Cordoba Crown, it included a padded Landau vinyl roof, brushed finish up-and-over roof molding, color-keyed vinyl roof termination and opera window moldings, opera lamps, "Frenched" rear windows (the moldings were not exposed), wider lower sill moldings, and Premier wheel covers. A Corinthian Edition package was optional only on the Crown edition. The Corinthian Edition package included unique paint colors, chrome left and right outside mirrors, unique 60/40 Corinthian leather and vinyl seats with center armrest, leather wrapped steering wheel, wire wheel covers, P205/75R15 white-wall tires, and intermittent windshield wipers.