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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Fine Corinthian leather

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60Comments

  1. 1.

    Origuy

    Nostalgic for the time I spent in a sleepy Spanish town that once was the grandest city in Europe.

  4. 4.

    Brachiator

    Fine Corinthian leather

    Given that another thread title is “Handel’s Messiah,” I misread this as First Corinthian leather, with images of biblical bondage gear.

  5. 5.

    Napoleon

    In high school/college a friend of mine had one of those. It got totaled when an off duty deputy sheriff who had had his license suspended, but somehow the sheriff, Jim Traficant, had gotten it back to him, ran into the back of it with the Jaguar he had just bought (I later learned he was rumored to deal cocaine).

  6. 6.

    Scott P.

    And of course, no leather of note is now or ever has been produced in Corinth.

    sleepy Spanish town

    Córdoba has a population of over 200,000. It may not be a metropolis, but “sleepy spanish town” makes me think of a roadside village with a dozen houses and a well.

  7. 7.

    Ross Hershberger

    This is strange. yesterday I was thinking about a Cordoba my friend Randy had about 30 years ago. It had Chrysler’s Lean Burn engine, which was, to say the least, problematic. I kinda liked the looks but you never see them on the road any more. IIRC, Corinthian Leather was just a label the marketing guys came up with because it sounded more luxurious than just Leather.

  9. 9.

    Ross Hershberger

    Ricardo Montalban said in a later interview that it bothered him that they used the wrong syllabic emphasis when pronouncing the name. It’s CORdoba, not corDOba.
    That is all.

  10. 10.

    Dave S.

    I like that it’s the “small” Chrysler, meaning you can only launch and land aircraft using the hood rather than the hood AND trunk.

  12. 12.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Dan Rostenkowski is dead. The universe seems to want to gather up corrupt old politicians these days . . . .

    Still, to his family and friends, RIP Rosto.

  13. 13.

    Citizen_X

    Why does Ricardo Montalban hate America?

    And may I be the first to add:

    KHAAAAAANNNNNNN!

  14. 14.

    Bubblegum Tate

    …which in turn makes me think of A Tribe Called Quest:

    “Yes, ‘Quence, he’s over
    His rhyme style is older
    Than a Chrysler Cordoba”

  15. 15.

    eemom

    The below from Steve Benen re the “principled” senator from Wisconsin:

    Republican activism in opposition to a lame-duck session on the Hill this year has been pretty strong of late. The notion that the Democratic majority might try to legislate after the November elections — the way the GOP has in years past — has fueled a coordinated effort from the Republican Study Committee, Newt Gingrich, Dick Armey, and assorted Tea Party groups.
    Yesterday, they picked up an unexpected ally.
    Sen. Russ Feingold became Tuesday the first Democrat to denounce the lame-duck session, saying such work periods “are sometimes used to consider extremely controversial policies.”
    “By allowing votes just after an election but before the newly elected Congress takes office, lame-duck sessions provide an opportunity to override the public’s will as expressed at the ballot box,” said the Wisconsin lawmaker, who is up for re-election this year.
    “Rather than schedule a lame-duck session this year, Congress should complete its work before the upcoming elections,” he said in a statement.
    ……….
    Also yesterday, Feingold launched a new radio ad, insisting that he’s more conservative on guns than his right-wing opponent.
    I can only assume Feingold is deeply worried about November.

  17. 17.

    Redshirt

    Ah, age. What once looked hideously ugly to me (all American cars from the 70’s) have magically turned beautiful to me now.

    Look at how small it is! ;)

  18. 18.

    Davis X. Machina

    “Corinthian” wasn’t chosen completely at random, however — in antiquity the city of Corinth had associations with wealth, luxury, and the good life in general. For an example, see Horace on life not being fair: “non cuivis homini contigit adire Corinthum’, ‘It does not happen to just anybody to go to Corinth’. (Epistles 1,7)

  19. 19.

    Allan

    Speaking of nostalgia, I just learned that my chamber of commerce booked Gallagher for their annual street music and entertainment fair. Everything I’m reading on line says his act is nothing but gay-bashing, shitting on Mexicans and Arabs and President Obama.

    I’m starting a campaign to get him cancelled. Found a great review of his act from this June in The Stranger, anyone else have any recent documentation of his disgusting performances?

  21. 21.

    QDC

    @Dave S.:

    That thing is almost two feet longer than my full-size four door.

    It’s 10 inches longer than a BMW 750Li. (Which is most assuredly not my car, but is nevertheless the longest looking sedan I could think of.) And it’s a coupe!

  22. 22.

    Comrade Dread

    I did not know that Chrysler was run by the Secret Muslim Caliphate as far back as the 70’s.

    My God, that explains it all. They’ve been plotting to steal our wealth, and they did it by mass producing shitty gas guzzling cars that increased our dependency on Saudi oil all the while demolishing one of the pillars of our old economy, the Auto industry.

    Those Secret Muslim Caliphate bastards!

  23. 23.

    Davis X. Machina

    You didn’t go down to the DMV to apply for a title in those days — you got a zoning variance down at town hall.

  24. 24.

    Citizen_X

    Since this is an open thread, allow to point out that Ben Quayle, Dan’s little boy, is running for Arizona’s 3rd District, with an ad you can see here. He starts off saying that Obama “is the worst President in history,” emotes Teabagger butthurt throughout (“What’s happened to America?”), and ends with a promise to “knock the hell out of” Washington.

    I thought that was al-Queda’s job.

  25. 25.

    Origuy

    @Scott P.: After I wrote that I realized that “town” wasn’t really appropriate. But I arrived there on the AVE from Madrid, stayed in the old town, and never saw much of the rest of the city. I was subconsciously comparing it to Madrid and Seville, which have much more of an urban feel.

  27. 27.

    Mike in NC

    @Violet:

    Did he drive that on Fantasy Island?

    If he drove it in Arizona today, would the cops have to ask to see his proof of citizenship?

    Saw Ricardo on a TV talk show way back then and he said the whole “Corinthian leather” thing was just some BS from an ad agency.

  28. 28.

    Tax Analyst

    Fine Corinthian leather

    DougJ: I believe the precise term was “RICH Corinthian leather”.

    Also, too – from Wikipedia:

    Corinthian leather was a phrase invented for marketing use to describe the leather used in certain Chrysler luxury cars in the 1970s. In this case, “Corinthian” does not actually indicate any relationship with Corinth, nor any specific type of leather and was added simply as a linguistic cachet.

    So whatever it was, it wasn’t Corinthian, it probably wasn’t “Rich”, except perhaps in the ironic sense, as in “Well, THAT’S Rich, har-de-har-har”, and it might not have even been real leather. My God, it was all just another cheap, smarmy marketing scam. Who could have imagined it?

  29. 29.

    mr. whipple

    Stopped at an old car show a few weeks ago. Scary as hell that things like this are now showing up as ‘vintage cars’. Wonder what kids think of the 8-track players in them?

  31. 31.

    Poopyman

    Not just you, Doug. I keep thinking “Look what they’ve done to my mosque!”

    @me:

    Hmmm, the “Small Chrysler”? Small meant something very different back then.

    You bet. I learned to drive in a ’69 Ford LTD. Rear wheel drive, 8 cylinders, with a hood like the deck of an aircraft carrier. Was doing pretty good at 11 mpg, too, IIRC.

  32. 32.

    Roger Moore

    @Remember November:

    and he played Khan. So it’s all a decades long Muslin konspeercy!

    Except that Khan was a Sikh, not a Muslim. Not that most teabaggers would know the difference.

  33. 33.

    Napoleon

    @mr. whipple:

    The weird thing about going to those things is that any more half the nameplates are gone. It use to be only the odd Studebaker or Nash that was a ghost nameplate but now half the brands of my youth seem to be gone.

  34. 34.

    Tax Analyst

    I don’t know why, but thinking about how Ricardo Montalban pronounced “Rich Corinthian leather” somehow brought to mind the SNL skit from several years back about the “cork-soakers”.

  35. 35.

    me

    @Poopyman: I was born in ’77 so I only remember the trailing edge of the ginormous car era. Although, now I drive a pickup that has only a slightly smaller footprint then the Cordoba.

  37. 37.

    Jewish Steel

    I like how the Cordoba is filmed responding to Ricardo’s “demands!” travelling no faster than a sane, gentle 35 mph.

    And the rhetorical thrust of the voice over seems to express a satisfaction in one’s lowered expectations. It meets his “needs.”

    Advertising was once not a high-octane assault upon the senses?

    Also, Concierto de Aranjuez!

  39. 39.

    Larry Signor

    Oh, the Seventies. Viet Nam, Iran, Yom Kippur War, Lebanon…nostalgia was not the term I was considering. Perhaps, deja vu? All over again? Anybody want to buy a Pet Rock?

  40. 40.

    Svensker

    @Tax Analyst:

    In this ad he actually says “soft Corinthian leather”, but I’m pretty sure the usual was “fine C.L.” There’s a FB page for both rich CL and fine CL but fine CL has way more “likes”, if that proves anything.

    If you want big cars, I once saw a 16 cylinder Cadillac, from the 1930s. The hood was as long as the Ventura highway. What a car.

  41. 41.

    Ross Hershberger

    I learned to drive in a Fiat 128 and a Gremlin. Only later did I appreciate the joys of a 454 Suburban.

  42. 42.

    Svensker

    @Svensker:

    OK, read the Wiki article a bit more closely — the ads were all “soft Corinthian leather” which Wiki says “were often misquoted as rich corinthian leather or fine Corinthian leather”.

    We learn something new every day while improving each shining hour.

  44. 44.

    Napoleon

    @efgoldman:

    The firing order stamped on the top of the block was not the actual order.

    Awesome. My dad had a Plymouth Fury that when you turned it off it kept going in dieseling mode for some time and would lay down a toxic cloud that likely is still burning a hole in the ozone layer.

    Just thinking of cars owned by my parents, brother and me during my life time and the following are from dead brands, AMC Rambler, Olds Delta 88, Plymouth Fury, Pontiac Firebird, and Triumph TR-6.

  45. 45.

    Tax Analyst

    @Svensker:

    @Svensker:

    OK, read the Wiki article a bit more closely—the ads were all “soft Corinthian leather” which Wiki says “were often misquoted as rich corinthian leather or fine Corinthian leather”.

    We learn something new every day while improving each shining hour.

    God, I even managed to misquote the Wiki article that I was referencing. I guess the “something” I learned this new day was that I ought to pay more fucking attention to what I’m looking at instead of projecting and superimposing what I THINK I’m looking at over the actual text.

    Oh, well – “Fine”, “Soft”, or “Rich”, when you boil it down and sit your ass down on it what you find is that it was all just more of the same and usual Marketing Hot Wax, no matter how Ricardo stressed his syllables.

    “Reech Coreentheeyann Bhoul-Sheet”.

  46. 46.

    Ross Hershberger

    The weird car market still exists. I drive past the local Morgan/Lotus dealer on the way to work. Who buys those?

  47. 47.

    debit

    I had one of these. My ex, cheap bastard that he was, picked it up for $100 from Goodwill. It was a deep maroonish purple and had bits falling off it from the rust. The shop wouldn’t put it on the lift when I had the brakes done because the frame was so rusted they were afraid it would crack. The body was pure shit, but the engine ran like a champ, even in our Minnesota winters. I named it Petunia.

  55. 55.

    Bill Murray

    I thought Corinthian leather was from Corinth, MS (pronounced Cornth). That’s why they didn’t use the term fine or rich

  57. 57.

    chaucer

    i had a cordoba in black. it was awesome! it drove as smoothly as a cadillac without paying what a cadillac cost. loved it!!! wish i still had it. but oh no! traded it for a ford granada. love those spanish name!!

  58. 58.

    tworivers

    Mr. Roarke: “Tattoo, my fantasy is to see you drive this Chrysler Cordoba – off that cliff!”

    Tattoo: “No, boss, NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!”

  59. 59.

    tworivers

    Roarke: “Tattoo, which kind of donut would you like, the jelly, or the plain?”

    Tattoo: “De plain! De Plain!”

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