Corinthian leather

[1] The car advertisements conceptually developed the term Corinthian leather to suggest a premium product of foreign origin denoting "something rich in quality, rare, and luxurious".

The upholstery was in fact a domestic product made by the Radel Leather Manufacturing Company in Newark, New Jersey.

[2] In the event, the leather term came to include the vinyl upholstering for interior surfaces, such as the backs of the front seats and the head rests, and the lower parts of door facings.

[12] In the book BAD — Or, The Dumbing of America (1991), the literary scholar Paul Fussell said that the term Corinthian leather was chosen "because a reference book suggested that Corinthian connotes rich desirability" and so appeal to modern people who love luxury, as much as did the people of Ancient Corinth.

That love of luxury of the Corinthians, Fussell noted, was “why Saint Paul selected them to receive one of his loudest moral blasts.