Mr. Roarke Worked his Magic for Chrysler Too
Perhaps he was best known for his role as Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island and to us, dedicated fans, as the cow on Family Guy. But there’s one more success that Ricardo Montalban deserves some serious credit for—saving Chrysler the first time.
Amid the gas crisis of the 1970s and many failed models, Chrysler was facing certain death until the launch of its low-cost answer to popular competitor models including the two-door Lincoln Continental, the Chevy Monte Carlo and Pontiac Grand Prix.
With Montalban as its pitchman, the Chrysler Cordoba eventually went on to count for more than 60% of Chrysler’s sales in one year and even managed to beat out Pontiac’s highly popular Grand Prix.
Credit his eloquent pronunciation of “Corrr-do-ba” or “Corinthian” (see commercial below), but the model essentially helped the company stay afloat until it found subsequent successes under Lee Iacocca with models like the K.
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