By Jim Brennan
Welcome to another weird edition of the Hooniverse Weekend Edition, where I find strange crap, and bring it to your attention for amusement purposes. Look what showed up on eBay motors, a 1977 Chrysler Cordoba. Normally, I really like these late Malaise Era Coupes, and this particular Cordoba has only covered around 10,000 miles from new. But there is something odd about it, with that iconic opera windowed, padded vinyl covered roof that seems to have gone missing…
The Malaise Era Personal Luxury Coupes had it all during their time period… Padded Roofs, Massive Doors, Soft Velour Upholstery, Climate Controlled Comfort, Stand-up Hood Ornaments, Huge 5mph Impact Bumpers, and of course, Wheezy Engines. None of them were offered as convertibles, mostly because of pending Government Rollover Legislation that ultimately never was passed. That didn’t stop a few enterprising outfits from producing a few, like this one.
This is a rather large listing for eBay, but the highlights of the ad are as follows:
1977 Chrysler Cordoba Convertible, 1 of 7 Hand Built with 5 believed left build for factory from coach builders, 10,000 Actual Miles, All Original, Never restored or Molested. Years on a Chrysler dealers showroom for display, Incredible Documentation about the 7 custom built convertibles, Original Build Sheet Rich and Beautiful Corinthian Leather Seats, Every option available including Rare brushed aluminum road Wheels, Factory A/C. Car has just been fully detailed never detailed underside with all pick’s. Folks if you want to be the talk of every show you must by this car, It will not only be the talk of any show it will win and ton of award’s take a good look at pick’s. I have been driving myself not and better one to be found, That being said may not be the cheapest in town but surely the only one, car has the big 400 engine loaded even factory 8 track.
A couple of observations, if I may… The Aluminum Road Wheels look like the factory “Polycast” rims, which is really a soft plastic center section mated to a steel rim. Speaking of rims, the trim rings used are virtually non existent today, so don’t lose those. The tires are the semi wide whitewalls that were popular during this time period, but with tires being almost 37 years old, I would replace them before driving long distance.
OK, so the car looks great with the top down, but it really looks like ass with the top up. I guess during all those years of being housed at a Chrysler Showroom, it probably had the top down, which really did it no favors. First thing I would do is replace it with one that was canvas, preferably color coordinated with the interior, and see if you can sew in an actual glass rear window.
Speaking of the interior, it looks great, from the front seats forward. The rear seat looks more like a hatchet job, to make room for the top mechanism. No wonder only 7 were made by this company. Anyway, with over five days to go until the auction ends, the top bid received so far is $5,600, with no reserve! Does this sound like something you would like to own, or is it a disaster of epic proportions? See the listing here, but only if you dare:[sc:ebay itemid=”201052000057″ linktext=”1977 Chrysler Cordoba Convertible ” ]
Jeff Glucker