@@genkill3617 , i remember too , it was for months probably . Back then there were 3 and a half channels on our 1 black and white TV that went blank at midnight. No not much in 'entertainment' at all from what i recall lol
I remember a fellow who had a Cordoba and when it went to scrap he salvaged the seats and put them on his condo balcony. He sat on them and drank beer.
@@BladeRunner-td8be To my knowledge he never bought a new car. I went into the Army and he into the Air force. Stateside he was nicknamed "Flash" and his car known as "The Vomit Comet". Once he had some kind of foreign car and when it needed a new part he had to contact Italy (no E mail then) and they told him maybe in three months!!!
Actually, Ricardo is from Córdoba, Mexico. Initially the marketing guys wanted him to pronounce Cordoba with out any iteration, enven though in Spanish th iteration is on the first "o", but Ricardo insisted that at least it had to have the iteration on the second "o", hence he invented that pronunciation which did not exist in Spanish. Truly a remarkable man, very elegant.
@@user-pp1on4fk7d He's going to win 2020 you know. And when that happens, all bets are off and the whirlwind is gonna come, so please, if you're American, get out of the country while you still can.
@@lelandfranklin3487 Also, he was in pain everyday from an earlier automobile accident, I think, and off stage had a noticeable limp. On stage he became his character and the limp disappeared. Such a very nice and extremely talented man!
As a film student at the time this was made, I remember seeing photos of the making of this commercial. The "outside scene" with the car was actually shot inside, in a huge studio. They used gigantic scrims hung above to recreate the soft sky at sunset. The courtyard was laiddout out and the building in the back was a flat
Another memorable car commercial in that era was the introduction of the 1977 Lincoln Versailles. The Windows on the World restaurant had just opened a few months previously in the World Trade Center. Design elements from that restaurant were recreated in a studio with the car placed in the middle. I have always wondered about the setting for the introduction of the Cordoba....incorrectly assuming that an outdoor setting from a Hollywood backlot was used.
64 years old and I vividly remember this commercial. "Corinthian Leather" (which doesn't exist except in the minds of the ad producers) was made fun of mercilessly for quite a few years. Ricardo is probably known most for his leading role in the T.V. series Fantasy Island. His role as Khan in Star Trek ll: The Wrath of Khan is the best work I've seen him do. He was 62 years old in that movie and his physical presence was so powerful that it boggles the imagination. Of course, his acting was equally phenomenal. There were a lot of legitimate stars in the movie but he stole the show. RIP Cheers
@@russelllangworthy8855 NO HE DIDN'T!!!!... Those bulked up muscles that was definitely Ricardo Montalban.!!!! Before they made Star Trek 2 The wrath of Khan; Ricardo Montalban trained rigorously and physically built himself up for the role of Khan Noonien Singh. That's definitely him muscled up for sure!!!!!
My dad handed this car down to me and my brother to share in the 80s... soo much fun! At one point the automatic windows stopped working and the door was jammed, so we would get in Bo and Luke Duke style... If Bo and Luke Duke were from Corinthia that is..
Never wanted one of these cars as a kid. But, now I'd take one without hesitation. Great looking car, especially compared to what's on the road these days.
Cordoba: the only car Mr. Montalban would trust to chase a rival around the moons of Nibia, around the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before he gave him up.
Chrysler was paired with Plymouth so unlike Buick...Oldsmobile...Mercury...Dodge...etc there was no "small" Chrysler until the Cordoba...they sold like nickel hamburgers
My uncle had one. A beautiful car. It drove like a dream on the highway. I remember the handling wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't supposed to be a BMW 'm5', either. Mr. Montalban could sell water to a fish. This guy was great 😀
When I was a child, I was amazed by the commercials theme song and the man's accent and would play my version of this song. First time hearing it in years...again.
I owned two of these one a base model and then, one with luxury level . I would drive to Tennessee from Michigan and set my cruise at 100mph and just float down the road. Had 360,000 miles on it before it was sold. Sure wish I had it today, what a smoooth ass ride😘
Giordan Diodato bro the fourth safety feature is if you got in a head on collision with almost anything on the road today, it would look something like a train hiting a reliant robin, the Cordoba being the train of course.
@@GiordanDiodato You're wound up way too tight to enjoy the pleasure of driving an old school classic car. Especially one with rich Corinthian leather.
I loved these commercials with Ricardo Montalban.. his rich voice describing his Chryler Cordoba... I had a 1976 Cordoba it drive nice and for 120,000 miles on it it still ran like it was brand new. smooth and silky.
Thank you whoever, for that commercial... I was brought home after I was born in that exact car!... was a blast from the past, so many childhood memories there
Loved Johnny Carson's line about televised executions in that era: "I don't think it's a good idea...too much commercialism...especially when Ricardo Montalban walks up to the electric chair and says; "It's upholstered in rich Corinthian leather!"
I had one of those, it was light metallic blue with a dark blue vinyl roof and a 400 ci v8 engine. I was really proud of it. I showed up to work the first day I had it, and my boss said, “it looks like a drug dealer’s car.” And to be fair, it was haha
@@caryd67 don't you just hate when that happens? I remember 80s Trans Am's & Camaro Z28s had that same stigma attached to them as well, especially if you also carried a beeper.
There's a great clip of Letterman interviewing Ricardo Montalban on his old Late Night Show asking him, "what the Hell is this Corinthian Leather"? Ricardo rolled with it wonderfully. I don't believe anyone ever had a bad word to say about Ricardo Montalban. I think his off-screen persona and on-screen persona were very close to one another. I realize he played some villians, but too me he always bathed himself in class & style. Smooth & sophisticated. These commercials were wildly successful and he was a great spokesperson.
Yes, it was a fine day when I was invited to Senor Montalban's mountaintop estate. After a fine Mexican food meal prepared by his graceful wife Rosalie, he invited me to ride his Cordoba with him to the ocean overlook, where he confessed he often mused upon the Spanish presence in the Americas. The Adagio from Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" played on his stereo. As he spoke in his mellifluous measured tones, I sensed his regard for his heritage - and for the Corinthian peasants who produced the fine leather for the seats in his car (available at a most pleasant price). It was a memorable occasion.
I was 9 years old when this came out and remember how "Corinthian leather" became a joke on TV. But honestly this is a pretty damned effective car commercial!
+tranurse So that was you that one day when you shouted "KHAN!" out the window on the boulevard. I remember it like it was yesterday, you big Trekkie nerd!
At the Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Michigan was a Cordoba that Chrysler gave Ricardo for his own use during the ad campaign. It was better finished than the ones sold to the public. It's a medium blue with a white vinyl roof.
Yes, I think so too but our Spanish teacher was dumbfounded that he, as a person who spoke Spanish since he started speaking, pronounced it as he did rather than “Córdoba”.
They picked the best human on the planet for that commercial. He was so smooth and elegant, yet, dangerous and intimidating. He would have the perfect pick to play James Bond if the producers had the guts to break with tradition and let a non-English actor play the role. Cheers
Chrysler had to sell their soul to the devil. The government forced them to discontinue the 400 and 440 and scrape the tooling. This left them at a disadvantage for their trucks because GM and Ford still had a big block. It wasn't until 1987 when Dodge trucks got Cummins diesels that they had the best pulling truck available.
why would anybody in the 1970s continue making big block OHV V8 engines when car buyers both lower and upper middle class were trying to avoid the problems that came with high gas prices? The moment gas prices became high, American carmakers ditched big engines and big cars as soon as they could, sort of marking the end of American land yachts (I say sort of because the full size SUV and the big pickup truck can be seen as conceptual successors to the pre-1974 big American sedan). The end result: GM made the right move by downsizing all of their full size car models for 1977 and those cars became big hits. Shedding weight and size meant they could get away with smaller engines, which in turn improved fuel economy dramatically. Ford followed suit with the panther platform in 1979, whose biggest engine to date is the 5.0 Windsor V8, a displacement that’s technically still small block if boing by pre-1974 oil crisis standards. Yet nobody has complained of ford crown victorias being underpowered. Getting rid of big V8s like the 426 hemi, 440 Magnum and Cadillac 500 was inevitable - low gas prices wasn’t going to last forever, and the same is true now.
@@michaelho4014 but GM and Ford did continue big blocks for their trucks. I believe Chrysler probably would have too had it not been a stipulations for the government bailout in the late 70s. I knew a couple of guys that worked at the Chrysler proving grounds who bought trucks in the early eighties and put 440s in them so they could pull their big campers up north. It was a emissions that put the 426, 440 and 340 six packs out. Cars from the 70s and 80s were anemic. When the Dodge Little Red Express trucks could beat a Corvette in the quarter mile, it was a sad state. They were choked down, with garbage and low compression. As diesel power in trucks became popular, the idea of buying a block began to fade but the government once again came and ruined not only the diesel engine but the fuel that goes in the tank. Not long ago Ford introduced a 7.3L to have an option to the diesel.
I once had a Summer job working in a lab at a factory. One of the things we made were the decorative doubloons that were plastered all over the Cordoba. Chrysler thought that those decorations along with the car's name and Mr. Montalban would make the Cordoba appeal to their target market, and they were right. My boss at the plant told me that the coating on the doubloons didn't need to last that long because the Cordobas were rust buckets. Plus, a lot of them were on the inside were they weren't exposed to the elements.
I wanted one of those so bad and got one I worked long hours and paid it off and every time I started i felt like I must be living the good life if it was good enough for ricardo,it was good enough for me.
My late father had one of these same colour ect......in 1982 as a 20 yr old kid I loved to drive it....now back home in Wales 🏴 UK....Great memories
My Grandma also had one I believe the model year was 1976 black on black everyone would say fine Corinthian leather .....time flies I was 6 in ‘76 RIP Grandma(passed in 2016 at 93....)
LOL 😂 mine was a 77 LTDII 2 door! It was all hood!!!!!! It had a 400 in it! Wait..... No, this was my 3rd car, I got too excited! I loved that LTD!!!!!!!! ❤️
When the Chrysler Cordoba was launched in 1975, it became a success story...many Cordobas sold had "soft Corinthian leather" and all 'dobas had V8 engines until it was downsized in 1980. In addition, the 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic was the only transmission offered in all 'dobas.
That’s one thing Chrysler did very well ..... Those 3 speed torqueflite transmissions were simply diehards and extremely reliable. I had many Chrysler products over the years that had the 3sp torqueflite transmission and NEVER once did any of them give a problem even well past 100,000 miles.
@@guynese977 Only after they were afflicted with catalytic converters, which destroyed horsepower for two decades. When the V8s ran on leaded gas, they were powerful indeed. (My dad's '73 Meteor, colossal though it was, moved like a rocket).
a different key for the door than for the ignition... I owned one of these (used) back then... it was a gorgeous vehicle that drove like you were on a cloud....
Their supposedly not "actors", but a few have been to discovered to carry SAG cards, which makes them actors. I hate those commercials because those people act like they've never seen a car before.
Oh man, I remember one commercial where Ricardo Montoban touted the Cordobas “digital chronometer “. I was hoping to hear him say that! I remember driving a friends parents Cordoba one night. It was seriously gutless.
What the hell happened to luxury car commercials? They used to be ART! Now they seem to be about ticking off a bunch of technical specs like some guy talking about his gaming PC, with meaningless buzzwords sprinkled in and (if it's a hybrid) usually some pious back-patting about the vehicle's environmental impact. Yeah, this ad is about the finer things in life and has some buzzwords in it too, but it's trying to sell you LUXURY, not a smug, unearned sense of superiority. As epic as it is, you almost don't even need Senor Montalban's narration, the vehicle and the imagery surrounding it largely speak for themselves.
TBustah there are no more luxury car commercials because the beautiful luxury cars such as the Chrysler Córdoba, Chrysler New Yorker and Buick Park Avenue have been replaced by minivans and SUV’s. I sure hope I see 360 in cars before I’m too old to drive.
I bought one new...for styling I would give it an A+.... for ride an 'A'. For quality a "D". So many Chryslers have world-beater styling but are put together like a can opener. I will say while the car fell apart, the Corinthian leather held up like new until I traded it.
In 1977, my grandfather ordered a bright yellow Cordoba and somehow was able to option it with a police interceptor 360 and a 3.23 sure grip. Bright yellow with black interior and top white walls and all. I remember that car was quick and fast.
Loved this commercial as a kid. We ran around for weeks imitating Ricardo Montalban saying "Corinthian leather" 😂
For weeks? Wow... you poor kids were really desperate for entertainment! :-)
Lol
@@genkill3617 no video games
@@genkill3617 , i remember too , it was for months probably . Back then there were 3 and a half channels on our 1 black and white TV that went blank at midnight.
No not much in 'entertainment' at all from what i recall lol
Curthoba lathar
This commercial is so good that it makes me want to buy this car 40 years later!
My dad had one. I remember only sitting in the back and looking out of those little windows.
They should have called this car "The Montalban"
Chrysler cordoba Khan Edition
Would a transit from this company be called.... The Montalvan?
@@CEOkiller It comes with phaser banks and a Project Genesis capsule? 😂
Dude... why you got to disrespect the man like that?
@@anthonysvenforsic4760 They are just memes and little jokes. No disrespect intended.
I remember a fellow who had a Cordoba and when it went to scrap he salvaged the seats and put them on his condo balcony. He sat on them and drank beer.
that is a legend
Good story. I don't know who that "fellow" was but next time you see him mention that he's alright in my book. Cheers
@@BladeRunner-td8be To my knowledge he never bought a new car. I went into the Army and he into the Air force. Stateside he was nicknamed "Flash" and his car known as "The Vomit Comet". Once he had some kind of foreign car and when it needed a new part he had to contact Italy (no E mail then) and they told him maybe in three months!!!
Looks like you have rich Corinthian leather in the front porch
I'm sure the Corinthian leather was luxurious even then. 😁
I love how Montalban just refers to the Córdoba like Khan would. "It answers my demands," "most pleasant price." Who talks like that? Khan does.
Did you ever see the SCTV bit where they did Ricardo Montalban's Acting School? Hilarious!
Well, this is where he learned how to do the character.
@@robertrodes1546 This was after he played Khan
Commercial after Star Trek TOS episode “Space Seed” and before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn
actually, he was talking like his mysterious, somewhat swarthy character on Fantasy Island.
He pronounces each word so perfectly. Like to hear him speak.
Ricardo montalban made you believe in the term rich Corinthian leather... He invented hat shit.!!!
I've read he took speech lessons to reduce his accent by learning to pronounce each syllable correctly resulting in his great diction.
Listen to Ricardo Montelban on the cartoon series Freakazoid and be astounded.
Actually, Ricardo is from Córdoba, Mexico. Initially the marketing guys wanted him to pronounce Cordoba with out any iteration, enven though in Spanish th iteration is on the first "o", but Ricardo insisted that at least it had to have the iteration on the second "o", hence he invented that pronunciation which did not exist in Spanish. Truly a remarkable man, very elegant.
Com- Fort- Able seats
Like he said in an interview many years ago; "and like that, I spent the next 16 years selling cars."
RIP Ricardo Montalban (1920 - 2009)
RICARDO MONTALBAN IS THE REAL MOST INTERESTING MAN IN THE WORLD.
Ricardo Montalban had so much class and he was such a great actor! He his deeply missed! Thank you, Johnny, Montreal, Canada.
How many Corinthians did they have to skin to get the leather?
I used to say at the end of the commercial "No corinths were harmed in the making of this commercial" LOL
According to Trump....2 Corinthians
@@user-pp1on4fk7d
He's going to win 2020 you know. And when that happens, all bets are off and the whirlwind is gonna come, so please, if you're American, get out of the country while you still can.
Yeah and how many babies you gotta squeeze to get all that baby oil?
VunderGuy that bus to Canada everyone was talking about in 2016 still running?
One of the greatest car ads in history.
I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU.
Yes!!!
No argument here.
From the minds of Minolta
Without question
He looked really good in that car. I would dare say this is one of the greatest automotive commercials of all time.
10/10.
He looked good on the bridge of the reliant.
@@jasonparis5635 Reliant Robin Car
Toured in a show with him. He was a really wonderful man and incredibly approachable and charming. I have great memories.
So nice to read. Often people are disappointed by meeting celebs. Glad he was the class act he appeared...
@@lelandfranklin3487 Also, he was in pain everyday from an earlier automobile accident, I think, and off stage had a noticeable limp. On stage he became his character and the limp disappeared. Such a very nice and extremely talented man!
@@krpbdp wow! What a pro! So glad to read that
As a film student at the time this was made, I remember seeing photos of the making of this commercial. The "outside scene" with the car was actually shot inside, in a huge studio. They used gigantic scrims hung above to recreate the soft sky at sunset. The courtyard was laiddout out and the building in the back was a flat
Another memorable car commercial in that era was the introduction of the 1977 Lincoln Versailles. The Windows on the World restaurant had just opened a few months previously in the World Trade Center. Design elements from that restaurant were recreated in a studio with the car placed in the middle.
I have always wondered about the setting for the introduction of the Cordoba....incorrectly assuming that an outdoor setting from a Hollywood backlot was used.
Wow, they did a pretty good job
Corinthian leather was so memorable back then. It was the phrase that stuck.
And it wasn't even a real thing!
Ricardo Montalban was so smooth, he could sell pork chops to Muslims.
He's so smooth, he could sell Corinthian leather to...uh, Corinthians!
Hell, he could make Jews say "Jesus is my boss"!
RIP. A true legend!
Lol. Damn that's funny.
LOL!!!!
No need, muslims sell them to other muslims hahahahahah
I don't think that this is the best car commercial ever. It is the best ANYTHING commercial ever.
There were some 7Up ads that were incredibly surreal. Beings walking through other beings on the sidewalk...
64 years old and I vividly remember this commercial. "Corinthian Leather" (which doesn't exist except in the minds of the ad producers) was made fun of mercilessly for quite a few years. Ricardo is probably known most for his leading role in the T.V. series Fantasy Island. His role as Khan in Star Trek ll: The Wrath of Khan is the best work I've seen him do. He was 62 years old in that movie and his physical presence was so powerful that it boggles the imagination. Of course, his acting was equally phenomenal. There were a lot of legitimate stars in the movie but he stole the show. RIP Cheers
He wore a prosthetic chest in Wrath of Khan.
@@russelllangworthy8855 NO HE DIDN'T!!!!... Those bulked up muscles that was definitely Ricardo Montalban.!!!!
Before they made Star Trek 2 The wrath of Khan; Ricardo Montalban trained rigorously and physically built himself up for the role of Khan Noonien Singh. That's definitely him muscled up for sure!!!!!
@@rodferguson3515 You're entitled to your opinion, but I disagree.
@@russelllangworthy8855 He did not sir. That has been debunked repeatedly.
@@suzannehartmann946 I disagree. I think it remained bunked.
My dad handed this car down to me and my brother to share in the 80s... soo much fun!
At one point the automatic windows stopped working and the door was jammed, so we would get in Bo and Luke Duke style... If Bo and Luke Duke were from Corinthia that is..
This was truly a Beautiful and Elegant Automobile back in the day and Now too. :)
Never wanted one of these cars as a kid. But, now I'd take one without hesitation. Great looking car, especially compared to what's on the road these days.
yea, look-a-like suv's galore. now bump up the cash or loan, caddy, porche, honda, and gang have some nice stuff.
Very nostalgic for me. A car commercial! And I miss Ricardo.
Cordoba: the only car Mr. Montalban would trust to chase a rival around the moons of Nibia, around the Antares Maelstrom and 'round Perdition's flames before he gave him up.
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN
And you should see how well it handles in the Mutara Nebula!
@@47Str8 I've heard its shields work in there, but I haven't had a chance to test that.
"I've done far worse than kill you...I've totally past you by in my 1970's Chrysler Cordoba, with its fine Corinthian leather."
@@kamuelalee
"Rich," not "fine." Just sayin'
Wow, I forgot all about these great commercials. Always loved the way he pronounced Cordoba.
"small Chrysler"
Length: 215.3 in
That is less than 10 inches shorter than a suburban full size SUV.
Farts McGee It was fairly small. My '69 Chrysler Newport is 224.7 inches long and my '70 Imperial Lebaron is 229.7.
Ya, pretty huge to be "small", but at the time it was the smallest of the Chrysler models.
Chrysler was paired with Plymouth so unlike Buick...Oldsmobile...Mercury...Dodge...etc there was no "small" Chrysler until the Cordoba...they sold like nickel hamburgers
The Chrysler corp. always did things in the extreme. I remember the Plymouth Fury--such a tank, you couldn't even fit one in your garage!
@@fairfaxcat1312 ...not to mention the Chrysler Imperial at 232.7 inches.
My best friend's father bought this car new. It was the 79' model, 2-tone black & silver. The car was gorgeous and rode like a cloud.
A true gentleman. Period. 👍
I’m typing in the Cordoba’s command code to force her to lower her shields.
Back when cars were luxurious and beautiful and the commercials for them were alluring and captivating.
When you could tell cars apart by looking at them now the SUVs all look the same. They come in 3 colors Black, White and Silver
Back when Americans remembered Pearl Harbor
This is probably the greatest commercial of all time
My uncle had one. A beautiful car. It drove like a dream on the highway. I remember the handling wasn't the greatest, but it wasn't supposed to be a BMW 'm5', either.
Mr. Montalban could sell water to a fish. This guy was great 😀
My Dad had one also. It was a beautiful car for it's time.
When I was a child, I was amazed by the commercials theme song and the man's accent and would play my version of this song. First time hearing it in years...again.
How could anyone dislike this ad!!! You fiends!!
Alonzo Bell They're jealous Germans & Japanese.
Captain Kirk is jealous of Khans car.
I owned two of these one a base model and then, one with luxury level . I would drive to Tennessee from Michigan and set my cruise at 100mph and just float down the road. Had 360,000 miles on it before it was sold. Sure wish I had it today, what a smoooth ass ride😘
Damn good times for sure
"SMALL Chrysler?"
it looks like a tank!
+Thomas Christopher A gorgeous tank maybe. I wish they made cars like that today.
you mean with no safety features outside of power steering and 3-point seatbelts?
Giordan Diodato bro the fourth safety feature is if you got in a head on collision with almost anything on the road today, it would look something like a train hiting a reliant robin, the Cordoba being the train of course.
Should have seen the new Yorker... Wagon!
@@GiordanDiodato You're wound up way too tight to enjoy the pleasure of driving an old school classic car. Especially one with rich Corinthian leather.
The hood alone on this Chrysler is longer than many cars today...😳
I loved these commercials with Ricardo Montalban.. his rich voice describing his Chryler Cordoba... I had a 1976 Cordoba it drive nice and for 120,000 miles on it it still ran like it was brand new. smooth and silky.
Khan was smooth. He was like the Mexican answer to Billy Dee Williams.
director yells cut. ricardo gets into his mercedes and has his driver take him home.
RIight before his chauffeur drives him away he rolls down the window and says, "get this POS off my property."
Ricardo hopped into his 1955 300SL. 🤪
@@kennethsouthard6042 hahahaha! That is probably EXACTLY how it went down. Those cars were awful
Bwuaaaahaaa bwuaaaahaaa bwuaaaahaaa 😁 😁 😁
@@k.j.g.9601 My 1977 certainly should have been better.
This commercial makes me want to find a Cordoba and buy it now, in 2022.
Rest well Montalban
Thank you whoever, for that commercial... I was brought home after I was born in that exact car!... was a blast from the past, so many childhood memories there
Loved Johnny Carson's line about televised executions in that era: "I don't think it's a good idea...too much commercialism...especially when Ricardo Montalban walks up to the electric chair and says; "It's upholstered in rich Corinthian leather!"
LOL Thank you SO much for that dude! I had forgotten all about that! You made my day! HAHA!
God what a voice.. I now want to buy 2 Cordobas
I had one of those, it was light metallic blue with a dark blue vinyl roof and a 400 ci v8 engine. I was really proud of it. I showed up to work the first day I had it, and my boss said, “it looks like a drug dealer’s car.” And to be fair, it was haha
@@caryd67 don't you just hate when that happens? I remember 80s Trans Am's & Camaro Z28s had that same stigma attached to them as well, especially if you also carried a beeper.
Now I want me a Cordoba with *soft Corinthian leather*
Their retail is about $800..."Good condition, 42K miles, ran when parked". :))
rofl!
@@crankychris2 Lolz
Or crushed velour!
And don't forget the opera windows and landau roof.
There's a great clip of Letterman interviewing Ricardo Montalban on his old Late Night Show asking him, "what the Hell is this Corinthian Leather"? Ricardo rolled with it wonderfully. I don't believe anyone ever had a bad word to say about Ricardo Montalban. I think his off-screen persona and on-screen persona were very close to one another. I realize he played some villians, but too me he always bathed himself in class & style. Smooth & sophisticated. These commercials were wildly successful and he was a great spokesperson.
Yes, it was a fine day when I was invited to Senor Montalban's mountaintop estate. After a fine Mexican food meal prepared by his graceful wife Rosalie, he invited me to ride his Cordoba with him to the ocean overlook, where he confessed he often mused upon the Spanish presence in the Americas. The Adagio from Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" played on his stereo. As he spoke in his mellifluous measured tones, I sensed his regard for his heritage - and for the Corinthian peasants who produced the fine leather for the seats in his car (available at a most pleasant price). It was a memorable occasion.
+Wes Clark lol te pasaste de verga
Rodrigo not Albeniz
Wes Clark you are a genius.
Sounds like total bullshit
@Scary Hobo Corinthian leather was manufactured outside of Newark, New Jersey. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_leather
I remember this as a kid...man!! Ricardo Montalban voice!! Amazing times
He was the voice of senior senior from Kim Possible And he's the voice of that evil businessman from freakazoid
I was 9 years old when this came out and remember how "Corinthian leather" became a joke on TV. But honestly this is a pretty damned effective car commercial!
my parents had one with the fine corinthian leather with metal buckles and we lived in florida.... in the summer you'd get blistered getting into it.
+tranurse Blistering hot Corinthian leather = The Wrath of Khan?
pretty much
+tranurse So that was you that one day when you shouted "KHAN!" out the window on the boulevard. I remember it like it was yesterday, you big Trekkie nerd!
/shut up , Kieeerk!
wonderful car, it actually pulled chrysler out of a slump at the time, very luxury at a low price for that time period , i always liked this car
At the Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Michigan was a Cordoba that Chrysler gave Ricardo for his own use during the ad campaign. It was better finished than the ones sold to the public. It's a medium blue with a white vinyl roof.
My mother had a Cordoba for years. The 360 was bullet proof
I now need a Dos XX all of sudden....
"The Original Most Interesting Man in the World"
Came for the commercial...stayed for the rich Corinthian leather!!! Ol ric was smooth af back in the day!!! 😎👍
Nobody could say the word "Cordoba" like Ricardo montalban!
Nobody!!!! He could read the stock market and id be listening like he were Moses
Or 'reeeeech corrrreenthian leather' LMAO
Yes, I think so too but our Spanish teacher was dumbfounded that he, as a person who spoke Spanish since he started speaking, pronounced it as he did rather than “Córdoba”.
@@sneddley LOL It's called ACTING dude! HAHA!!! 😜 Hence all the jokes about him and those car commercials!
They picked the best human on the planet for that commercial. He was so smooth and elegant, yet, dangerous and intimidating. He would have the perfect pick to play James Bond if the producers had the guts to break with tradition and let a non-English actor play the role. Cheers
This perfect pitchman kept Chrysler from going under until Lee Iacocca arrived in 1978.
And introduced the K car which the government bought by the truckload and saved Chrysler's butt!
He if had been a car, they would've sold a billion of him.
Chrysler had to sell their soul to the devil. The government forced them to discontinue the 400 and 440 and scrape the tooling. This left them at a disadvantage for their trucks because GM and Ford still had a big block. It wasn't until 1987 when Dodge trucks got Cummins diesels that they had the best pulling truck available.
why would anybody in the 1970s continue making big block OHV V8 engines when car buyers both lower and upper middle class were trying to avoid the problems that came with high gas prices? The moment gas prices became high, American carmakers ditched big engines and big cars as soon as they could, sort of marking the end of American land yachts (I say sort of because the full size SUV and the big pickup truck can be seen as conceptual successors to the pre-1974 big American sedan).
The end result: GM made the right move by downsizing all of their full size car models for 1977 and those cars became big hits. Shedding weight and size meant they could get away with smaller engines, which in turn improved fuel economy dramatically. Ford followed suit with the panther platform in 1979, whose biggest engine to date is the 5.0 Windsor V8, a displacement that’s technically still small block if boing by pre-1974 oil crisis standards. Yet nobody has complained of ford crown victorias being underpowered.
Getting rid of big V8s like the 426 hemi, 440 Magnum and Cadillac 500 was inevitable - low gas prices wasn’t going to last forever, and the same is true now.
@@michaelho4014 but GM and Ford did continue big blocks for their trucks. I believe Chrysler probably would have too had it not been a stipulations for the government bailout in the late 70s. I knew a couple of guys that worked at the Chrysler proving grounds who bought trucks in the early eighties and put 440s in them so they could pull their big campers up north. It was a emissions that put the 426, 440 and 340 six packs out. Cars from the 70s and 80s were anemic. When the Dodge Little Red Express trucks could beat a Corvette in the quarter mile, it was a sad state. They were choked down, with garbage and low compression. As diesel power in trucks became popular, the idea of buying a block began to fade but the government once again came and ruined not only the diesel engine but the fuel that goes in the tank. Not long ago Ford introduced a 7.3L to have an option to the diesel.
When I’m feeling down about the world I just watch this commercial and I am comforted by Corinthian leather dreams.
'This small Chrysler'
Rocks up in an ocean liner. Classy.
Believe me it was a "small Chrysler". Park it next to a Newport, New Yorker, or Imperial and you would suddenly see small Chrysler
I once had a Summer job working in a lab at a factory. One of the things we made were the decorative doubloons that were plastered all over the Cordoba. Chrysler thought that those decorations along with the car's name and Mr. Montalban would make the Cordoba appeal to their target market, and they were right. My boss at the plant told me that the coating on the doubloons didn't need to last that long because the Cordobas were rust buckets. Plus, a lot of them were on the inside were they weren't exposed to the elements.
The smoothest man that ever lived
He sounds ready to kill Admiral Kirk.
Kill him, Terrell! Now!!!!
I wanted one of those so bad and got one I worked long hours and paid it off and every time I started i felt like I must be living the good life if it was good enough for ricardo,it was good enough for me.
This is an all time classic commercial.
I remember this commercial so well.
My dad had a wintergreen Cordoba. It was a very nice car.
My late father had one of these same colour ect......in 1982 as a 20 yr old kid I loved to drive it....now back home in Wales 🏴 UK....Great memories
My Grandma also had one I believe the model year was 1976 black on black everyone would say fine Corinthian leather .....time flies I was 6 in ‘76 RIP Grandma(passed in 2016 at 93....)
I remember this commercial from way back when I was about 10 years old. It made an impression.
I built these at the Jefferson Assembly Plant in Detroit (pronounced Day-Twa).
Chrysler would have never sold a dozen of those cars if it wasn't for Ricardo Montalbans commercials.
“Look what they done to my car” famous quote!
This was my first car, 1976 white and blue topped Cordoba.........
LOL 😂 mine was a 77 LTDII 2 door! It was all hood!!!!!! It had a 400 in it! Wait..... No, this was my 3rd car, I got too excited! I loved that LTD!!!!!!!! ❤️
my dad also had the 76' Cordoba. gold with the Corinthian seats. this baby was loaded. the best looking car that Chrysler .
My buddy had a yellow one with a white leather landau top and moonroof. Lol
@@randolphtolbert3825 they don't make them like that anymore.
Most people don't know this. But I used to live in Corinth. And the Corinthian Leather is actually made from house cats.
Corinth, Kentucky? I imagine there it's possum pelts.
@@andyharman6283 In Corinth Texas they make them out of armadillos.
meow.
I thought it was Corinth, NJ where they actually made the stuff.
Lol
When the Chrysler Cordoba was launched in 1975, it became a success story...many Cordobas sold had "soft Corinthian leather" and all 'dobas had V8 engines until it was downsized in 1980. In addition, the 3-speed TorqueFlite automatic was the only transmission offered in all 'dobas.
hahahaha..'dobas..I am so using that from now on!
That’s one thing Chrysler did very well ..... Those 3 speed torqueflite transmissions were simply diehards and extremely reliable. I had many Chrysler products over the years that had the 3sp torqueflite transmission and NEVER once did any of them give a problem even well past 100,000 miles.
those v8s were underpowerd dogs that got 10 mpg in town! lol i had them!
@@guynese977 Only after they were afflicted with catalytic converters, which destroyed horsepower for two decades. When the V8s ran on leaded gas, they were powerful indeed. (My dad's '73 Meteor, colossal though it was, moved like a rocket).
@@guynese977 : Yup! Pass everything but a gas ⛽ station.
My grandfather had a Cordoba. What a beautiful machine!
Having a Cordoba back in the day would have been ....My Fantasy.
I’d love to go back to those days .....
Ricardo Montalbán The gentleman of Chrysler commercials of the 70s and 80s
my first car !! a 1975 model with a 360 V8.. and yes, it DID have rich, Corinthian Leather ! White with maroon interior..
Nice car! This is when you had to use the key to unlock the door! Lol
..Real men (Not me) unlock their doors with keys.. it's a man thing.
a different key for the door than for the ignition... I owned one of these (used) back then... it was a gorgeous vehicle that drove like you were on a cloud....
It was the music, the accent, his looks and the beauty of the place he was driving around at. He was cute to me back then!
Why cant we have car ads like this one anymore?, now were stuck with the likes of the BS Chevrolet "real interview" ads....
Their supposedly not "actors", but a few have been to discovered to carry SAG cards, which makes them actors. I hate those commercials because those people act like they've never seen a car before.
The Matthew McConaughey Lincoln ads are trying.
Thank goodness for Mahk
Oh man, I remember one commercial where Ricardo Montoban touted the Cordobas “digital chronometer “. I was hoping to hear him say that! I remember driving a friends parents Cordoba one night. It was seriously gutless.
WKRP’s Herb Tarlek approves this message.
My parents had one and it was absolutely huge!
Tattoo, our friends here wish to have their dreams realized... Fetch de Cordoba. "De BOAT, boss, de BOAT!"
Loved the hell out of my dad's Cordoba in the mid 70s.
He tasks me and I shall have him!
The plane, the plane!
That’s not nice, the actor who played Tattoo committed suicide. His note said that he did it because of “The Pain, The Pain”.
I recall these commercials, and the "fine Corinthian leather" line. I think SNL did a spoof on it, too.
What the hell happened to luxury car commercials? They used to be ART!
Now they seem to be about ticking off a bunch of technical specs like some guy talking about his gaming PC, with meaningless buzzwords sprinkled in and (if it's a hybrid) usually some pious back-patting about the vehicle's environmental impact. Yeah, this ad is about the finer things in life and has some buzzwords in it too, but it's trying to sell you LUXURY, not a smug, unearned sense of superiority. As epic as it is, you almost don't even need Senor Montalban's narration, the vehicle and the imagery surrounding it largely speak for themselves.
TBustah there are no more luxury car commercials because the beautiful luxury cars such as the Chrysler Córdoba, Chrysler New Yorker and Buick Park Avenue have been replaced by minivans and SUV’s. I sure hope I see 360 in cars before I’m too old to drive.
I now want to buy a 1970s Chrysler Cordoba! I hope my local dealers will have a few to choose from on their lots.
I bought one new...for styling I would give it an A+.... for ride an 'A'. For quality a "D". So many Chryslers have world-beater styling but are put together like a can opener. I will say while the car fell apart, the Corinthian leather held up like new until I traded it.
It was the absolute worst car my mom ever owned. That car made her buy a Datsun.
But the AD is so good! That makes up for the shitty car!
a lot of American automobiles were pretty bad in the 70s. AMC Pacer, Ford Pinto, Chevy Vega, Dodge Aspen, etc.
In 1977, my grandfather ordered a bright yellow Cordoba and somehow was able to option it with a police interceptor 360 and a 3.23 sure grip. Bright yellow with black interior and top white walls and all. I remember that car was quick and fast.
this was a personal car with Corinthian leather, and the most interesting man in the world!
I had one and loved it . Beautiful car
This is a gorgeous car even today. I’m getting some strong Jaguar vibes from its design.
What a wonderful commercial! Ricardo made the perfect spokesperson for that vehicle and sales took off. As they say, the rest is history
my grandma had one of these with a 360 2bbl carb. oddly enough, it ran pretty hard. I remember beating an iroc with it lol. bet that sucked for him.
ztwntyn8 Bet you're a god dam liar.
Don't take the lord's name in vein and, you would loose your bet wanna be.
+ztwntyn8 Don't tell others what they can and can't say simply because you believe in some invisible man in the sky....God Dammit!
+Daniel Ryan Invisible man in the sky??That's as deep as your thinking goes huh? Sad.
+Gary Taylor , How deeply should one think about a fictitious being?
Its funny, I remember this commercial when it came out. I was also driving a 69’ Chrysler Newport, had a 360 with 3 on the tree! Hell of a boat!!