You can hardly get the name “Chrysler Cordoba” out of your mouth when someone will let loose a snide comment about “rich Corinthian leather” in a Ricardo Montalban accent. Even Mopar guys seem to disavow the Cordoba, and its doppelgänger, the Dodge Charger. Nevertheless, these cars came with the LA-series 318- and 360ci small-blocks as well as the low-deck 400ci big-block. In short, all the good stuff fits, which is a good thing, because you’re pretty much priced out of the market with any of the earlier B-Bodies. No worries though—you’ll be the toast of the town with a one-off B-Body like this! In this rendering, Ben tucked, smoothed, and rechromed the bumpers, shaved the hood emblem and spear, and painted it Porsche Macadamia Metallic with Sandrift Metallic accents and a gold pinstripe. Wheels are 19- and 20-inch Schott G5s with gold pinstripe accents.
“The desirability and price can only go up from here, which means it’s time to buy.”
Don’t laugh—it was Motor Trend’s Car of the Year in 1976, and the 360ci-equipped R/T was about as quick 0-60 as the L82 Corvette the same year. The Dodge Aspen and its twin, the Plymouth Volare, were known as the F-Body, and replaced the A-body that came before it. To their benefit, they had much improved suspensions, but to their detriment, they share little else with earlier A-Bodies. It probably doesn’t matter though—Mopar guys are notoriously apathetic when it comes to handling. It’s all about the straight-line “go,” and since the Aspens and Volares came with 360ci small-blocks, you can go crazy underhood. Feel free to clobber all the BMW posers you can eat. A set of decent Wilwood brakes, stiffer springs, and bigger rolling stock (18-inch Boss 338s in this case) are complemented by black paint with matte black and bloodred accents. Modified grille trim (deleted Dodge faceplate), a custom ram air hood, heat extractor vents, an R/T-style hood stripe, and blacked-out trim finish out the visual mods.