Corinthian leather!
Interior photo of a 1978
Chrysler New Yorker Brougham, showing the "Corinthian leather" interior
Corinthian leather is a term coined by the advertising agency
Bozell in 1974
[1] to describe the leather upholstery used in certain
Chrysler luxury vehicles. Although merely a
marketing concept, it suggested a premium product, "something rich in quality, rare, and luxurious".
[2] In reality, it was the same
leather used in most Chryslers, produced by the Radel Leather Manufacturing Company in Newark, New Jersey.
[2][3]
While the term was first used during the marketing campaign for the top-of-the-line 1974
Imperial LeBaron, it is usually associated with the introduction of the 1975
Cordoba, an intermediate-sized
personal luxury car. The model's celebrity
spokesperson,
Ricardo Montalbán, is credited with indelibly linking the two.
[2] In promoting the Cordoba he described the thickly-cushioned luxury of seats "available even in fine
[4] (alternately, "soft"
[5] or "rich"
[6]) Corinthian leather".
[7][8] Later, in promoting the
Chrysler New Yorker in 1988, he again referred to the leather as "rich".
[2]