Years before RIcardo Montalban and Corinthian leather, Chrysler applied the Cordoba name to a radical concept car called the Cordoba De Oro.

Here’s one more candidate for wildest concept of the Elwood Engel era at the Chrysler Corporation (1961-74). In this case, the vehicle is credited to the vice president of design himself, who made his name at the Ford Motor Company with the 1961 Lincoln Continental before he moved over to take the top styling post at Chrysler.

From the cantilever roof without the benefit of A-pillars to the massive doors, there doesn’t seem to be much of anything in the Cordoba De Oro with real production potential. Evidently, the exterior was simply a freewheeling styling exercise. The name seems to be a flight of pure imagination as well: Cordoba is an ancient city in the South of Spain that dates back to Roman times, while de oro means “of gold” in Spanish—-as we see in the concept’s exterior color, a rich golden bronze.

The available press materials make no mention of the powertrain, and peeking through the wheel openings, it appears the car probably never had one. However, the literature does detail a number of creative engineering features: a set of thermostatically controlled doors for engine cooling, experimental headlamps, and a roof-mounted air brake. There were some intriguing electronic gadgets, too. The doors and ignition switch were operated via push-button passcode, a setup adopted by Ford in 1980 as Keyless Entry, and a sensor system that somehow monitored road surface conditions and reported to the driver.

The Cordoba De Oro made its debut in February of 1970 at the Chicago Auto Show, where attendees got an eyeful of the concept’s spectacular features, including the four body-countoured bucket seats and an early form of display screen. Strictly a show horse, the car was reportedly scrapped the following year, or at least it hasn’t been seen since. But the Cordoba name (minus De Oro) was reborn in 1975 with Chrysler’s hot-selling personal luxury coupe—Corinthian leather and all.