I see from the comments that there’s still folks who insist that Ricardo Montalban says “rich” or “fine” Corinthian leather; (or is it “soft”?). We did a post on this really important subject a bit over a year ago, but that has been awhile. So let’s play it one more time. Of course, the ultimate irony is that Ricardo’s Cordoba has “Fine Viennese velour” upholstery. You did hear him say that, right?
Sigh. I’ve written some ad copy in my day, but never hit anywhere near these heights.
I do a Ricardo impression when describing the Imp’s leather, but if you look at the brochure, the ’73 actually has “Cologne” leather. Faux-German vs. Ersatz-Greek? Pick your poison.
” I don’t always drive American cars. But when I do, I prefer the Chrysler Cordoba.”
Damn – this ad makes me want one of these again.
I really do like the way you think, JP!
Jim, Just go down to your local Chrysler dealer and tell them you want to test drive a Cordoba. Their response would probably be pretty amusing.
Reintroduce the Cordoba by combining the Challenger and the 300, get the Dos Equis guy to sell it. “I don’t always drive American cars…”
I don’t know about that.
It goes with the “Imported from Detroit” theme but goes against the “Dirty Harry halftime in America” theme..
Jeez, Ma Mopar is still dysfunctional after all these years..
The Challenger IS a butchered 300. I’m waiting for the vinyl roof, strobe stripes and opera window on next years model.
HEMI, automatic, leather seats, and turbine wheels for the WIN! Now you made me want to get a dark colored one and paint fake landau irons on the C pillar.
Opera lights! It needs “Opera Lights”..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_leather
One of ChryCo’s greatest feats here.
GM and Ford also used Corinthian “Leather” going back to the mid 60s. But to advertise it the way Cordoba did was pretty sweet.
I noticed RM refers to the Cordoba as “the new small Chrysler” and earlier noted that my great aunt always referred to hers as a “little car.” Out of curiosity I checked Wiki and it indicates the Cordoba was 215.3 inches long and 77.1 inches wide. Not so small by today’s standards. It is fun being reminded of what a great looking automobile the Cordoba really was. No wonder they flew off the lots the first few years.
I wonder how much sooner Chrysler would have gone bankrupt had it not been for Mr. Montalban.
Also, getting off the Corinthian thing for a moment, I remember that there was some controversy over the pronunciation of “Cordoba”. R.M. initially pronounced it the correct way, with the accent on the first syllable, and the “b” with a bit of “v” in it. Chrysler wanted Cor-DOH-ba. The result in the ad sounds like a compromise.
Mr. Montalban later claimed that he went with Chrysler’s preferred pronunciation, as it was signing his paycheck.
Mr. Montalban used the phrase “soft Corinthian leather” in the original 1975 commercial. After that he used the term “fine Corinthian leather” in an other commercial and finally in a 1980 commercial for the Chrysler Cordoba Corinthian Edition (no joke !) he was orating (with a big smile on his face !) about “rich Corinthian leather”.
Later he admitted to David Letterman that the term “Corinthian leather” meant nothing….
The reason people insist Mr. Montalbán says “rich Corinthian leather” is because he actually says it in this Chrysler Cordoba commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ylbDGbR0Q
At the 14 second mark he proclaims, “Yes, even rich Corinthian leather”.
Merks Succeeds
The leather (?) was “soft”, “fine” and “rich” (and probably very, very cheap…..)