American Curbsiders, imagine that all the best-selling cars of the 1980s vanished off of your local roads. Ford Tempos, Chevrolet Cavaliers, Honda Accords, all gone. Now, for some of you in snowier climes, that’s not too hard to imagine. But for those who live in more temperate locales with little (or no) snow and the associated road salt, it’s a bit more difficult to visualize. So consider how peculiar it is to see a once-common car disappear from the roads, only to then unexpectedly see an example years later.
I still see plenty of Australia’s best-selling cars of that decade: the Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, Ford Laser and Toyota Corona, to name a few. But one consistent Top 10 seller that has vanished almost entirely is the Mitsubishi Sigma.
This wagon is the first Sigma I had seen in years. Maybe I’ll get lucky and the Curbside Classic/Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon will cause me to notice a few more. Or maybe these cars are almost extinct, and soon a Sigma sighting will be only referred to as an “alleged sighting”, like someone who claims to spot a Tasmanian Tiger.
Spotting a Sigma GSR would truly be astonishing. I don’t recall even seeing these when I was a kid.
If I’d spotted a Sigma sedan, I’d probably have most American Curbsiders scratching their heads as it was never offered in North America. The wagon is still a little obscure, but it was offered in North America from 1978 until 1981 as the Dodge Colt Wagon, despite being larger than and unrelated to the other Colts in the stable. The wagon did a much better trade here than in the US, being locally-assembled, well-priced, and popular with families and fleets; the sedan was similarly successful. The final body style on this platform was the coupe, which Australia received as the Sigma Scorpion and North America saw as the Plymouth Sapporo and Dodge Challenger.
The Sapporo/Challenger were gone from North American showrooms after 1983 but lived until 1985 in Australia. The wagon was the last Sigma variant to go, selling alongside the new FWD Magna until that car’s wagon variant was introduced. By 1987 it had been nipped and tucked numerous times – although it never received quite as extensive sheetmetal changes as the sedan – and it was looking rather dated. The revised, raised roof was practical but made these look utterly dorky. Suffice it to say, the Magna Wagon was a breath of fresh air and sold just as well as the popular Sigma.
I have always liked the style of these eighties Mitsubishis. If I understand correctly, Mitsu kind of took over for Chrysler in Australia, and stretched the Galant JDM model to fit the Australian market and gradually take over for the Valiant.
In the Valiant post above, I proposed the turbo Astron for the Valiant. So to keep the mish mash fun going, I will propose the Hemi slant 6 for these RWD Sigmas.
Like the Maxima wagon a few more posts up, here was another car that went front drive with very little change in style. These are very close to the FWD Sigmas the USA had 88-91. Though unfortunately no wagons. Thanks William.
John, Mitsubishi bought Chrysler Australia when Chrysler got the bailout in the US, they sold off all their overseas operations. The last Valiants built had Mitsubishi Australia compliance plates under the hood, and were built alongside these Sigmas, as they had been for about 10 years (Colt/Galant before the Sigma debut in 1977).
William, the GSR wasn’t the turbo version, that was the Peter Wherret special. I agree with you on the disappearance thing though, I have only seen a handful in the past 5 years. I would put the 1980s Laser in the same boat, and Falcons not far behind. First gen Commodores I might see one or two a month.
It was lucky for Australia that Mitsubishi was able to keep the factory going another 20 + years. They even sent 1st gen Diamante wagons and 2nd gen sedans to the USA.
My cousin had a red GSR as his first car. I’ve never seen another one.
I saw a white GSR at a car show in Melbourne on Sunday!
Ooops, my bad John. So not quite as exciting as I remembered, and really more a rival to the Bluebird TR-X.
I clearly conflated the Wherrett special and GSR.
Actually I messed it up too, the Turbo was its own model with a 2.0L engine while the PWS was a standard 2.6 with a header and exhaust. I had a set of wheels from a PWS.
There is an interesting story behind the car; Peter Wherrett hosted a car show on ABC tv called Torque, and criticised the handling of the Sigma. The head of Mitsubishi challenged him to improve it, and so 1000 copies were produced.
And Mitsubishi contined to made the Aussie Valiant until 1981 althought there was some clay models showing an aborted attempt to continue the Valiant for the 1980s from what I saw on these photos of various clay models then I scanned from a old issue of Collectible Automobile.
Hey, I owned a Wherret sigma for 12 years. Bought it when it was a year old. It was before the GSR. The GH Wherret Sigma was based on the exceptionally rare GLX. It had a hotter 2.6, Recaros, 15 inch allows, Momo wheel – big stuff in the early 80s! BTY, I remember in the handbook it outlined the range of Mitsi vehicles one could buy. The Valiant was in there! Correct me if I’m wrong, but I recall reading a long time ago that they were finally badged as Mitsubishis. Not many made!
Interesting. I just looked it up, Mitsubishi continued to build the CM ‘Chrysler Valiant’ from takeover in April 1980 to final model off production line in August 1981. Apparently these were not badged as Mitsubishi, though it would interesting to know how they were manufacturer-plated.
edit. Just read John’s comment above. Mitsi compliance plate. I wonder how many survive.
Here is one of the compliance plates: Make – Chrysler, but “Manufactured by Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd”
Mmmmmmm…. CM wagon
Interesting read, William. I recall seeing the Colt wagon here in the U.S. There were a few I remember vividly. There was a family that had a yellow one that I saw quite often. It was always jam-packed with toys and such. Put it this way, that car got USED.
Here in America, it was sold under the Dodge name. I cannot remember what it was called, and it was only on the market for a very short time, probably two, maybe three years. I’ve only seen a few in the Seattle area.
I literally included all of that information in the article. Second last paragraph.
It’s a good thing you did include it, it would have been an unforgivable shame otherwise.
Yeah, the article above should help fill in those dots 🙂
I’ve seen 1 or 2 of those wagons here in the states….ALWAYS that cherry red color.
And the adjacent wagon is an EL Falcon, right?
Correct!
Good analogy, William…
“A once common car you saw everywhere, back in the day, to all of a sudden they have all but disappeared, from daily streets.”
Sadly, that is like describing an automotive version of the passenger pigeon…
“They flocked in swarms, that would the darken the skies, with the immense numbers in millions, till one day they were all gone. “- John James Audobon
** John Herald made that quote, not Audubon.
Audubon died of dimentia in 1851, while the passenger pigeon became extinct in 1914, so… 😛
Just like the chevette
There was one around here for a long time, and I wrote it up as part of our Dodge Colt series: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-asian/cc-colt-chronicles-part-4-1978-1981-dodge-colt-station-wagon-mitsubishi-galant-looking-for-a-dart-wagon-let-me-show-you-this/
But no more…
That’s not a bad-looking wagon, but I can’t recall if I ever actually saw one on the road. Odd considering that there still should have been some left by the mid 80’s when I started noticing cars.
I agree. I used to see some here and there during the early eighties, but for some reason they’re not seen as much. I’ve seen the station wagon version, but never a sedan.
From the look of the front indicator/parking light it appears to be a 1980-82 GH model.
In typical station wagon situation, when the sedan was replaced for the next model (slightly wider, revised suspension, new dashboard etc), the wagon carried over with new front sheetmetal until the final high-roof version that William mentioned.
The Sigma wasn’t a bad car in a dull sort of way, the 2.6L had good torque and overall it was set up well. The local version of the Sapporo was called the Scorpion, and was imported from Japan.
Do you realise that means when Magna first started production, MMA was building 3 generations of the Sigma/Galant platform simultaneously? 1st gen wagon, 2nd gen Sigma sedan, 3rd gen Magna sedan.
I wonder if that happened for any other manufacturer anywhere in the world?
Heh- saw that li’l red wagon with the raised roof and thought of Mad Max:
That shot is of a mildly modded Holden panelvan much bigger than a Sigma
Very cool find William! These were very popular in New Zealand too back in the day.
CC Effect: spotted an immaculate gold ’82 Sigma wagon last week. Going by the ladders on the roofrack and the signwriting on it, it belongs to a local TV repairman.
In the ultimate CC Effect, I can see an ’83 Sigma Super Estate whenever I want as my uncle and aunt bought one in 1985 and my cousin has inherited it. Burgundy-red exterior, grey interior, and well on its way to 500,000km, it’s chewed through both sills, a rear axle and about 3 engine heads over the years but is otherwise completely original. On my to-do list is taking decent photos of it for a CC post.
The yellow wagon in the photos looks like a GL; the Super Estate gained fancy wheel-covers, 5-speed manual transmission, velour trim and various other niceties over the GL. I’m not sure about Australia, but New Zealand also had a Sigma van available, which was a wagon sold with a permanent full-length load floor instead of rear seats (Ford offered a Cortina wagon along the same lines). I have the brochure, but never saw one in the metal, even back in the 80s. The rarest Sigma wagon I’ve seen (last year) was an ’83 imported new by Mitsubishi NZ, who ticked every box on the JDM option list – so it was a 5-speed turbo with a/c and p/w etc. Very cool, but sadly as worthless as all Sigmas of this vintage are nowadays…
Mate of mine still has one he recently gave it to his son to drive and bought a troublesome Holden Commodore but his wagon is pale yellow a twin to the featured car,
I had a couple of them an oil burning 79 2.0L 5 spped wagon I circumnavigated Australia in it was knackered when I bought it but refused to die 39.000 kms in 10 months a good car by my reckoning refused to start once due to a flat battery. The second was a 86 hi roof 2.6 5 speed wagon bought cheap in NZ to use while here for my daughters birth I threw a carby kit at it and a couple of welsh plugs when they failed otherwise nothing went wrong in the 6 months I drove it, Yes I’d have another likely the best car Mitsu AU ever built.
The Sigma was sold in the US as the Mitsubishi Galant Sigma in the late 1980’s. Used to see a few of them when they were new outside of DC – when Mitsubishi dealers were thin on the ground in most parts of the US.
I almost bought one in 1986…test drove a Mitsubishi Galant and was really impressed, but then I went home and thought a bit more about it and decided I really didn’t want this class of car afterall, and ended up buying a 1986 GTI
(which I owned for 15 years, seems it was a good decision for me…but I still sometimes wonder what would have happened if I bought the Galant…kind of a bit of buyers remorse?
I remember that it had a lot of the controls on pods that were around the steering wheel, even the heat/AC controls, and had a “flapper” turn signal kind of like the old 60’s Mopar products had on the dash, but on a pod (not sure if this would be an improvment to the “regular” turn signal lever…otherwise the car seemed pretty conventional, but fully equipped (I didn’t go for the Sigma version which was even more loaded with options). It was kind of the “opposite” of the GTI…loaded with options versus pretty basic, sedan vs hatchback, midsize vs compact.
Late 80’s means it would have been the next generation of the Galant and front-wheel drive. Australia was one of the last hold-outs for rear-wheel drive in this type of car; as late as 1986 you could buy Nissan, Toyota or Mitsubishi models.
John beat me to it–we did have a Galant Sigma (shortened to just “Sigma” in ’88 or ’89) but it wasn’t the same car. Based on this one’s successor. Some stylistic touches carried, like the general shape of the nose and the slight dip in the sheetmetal underneath the side windows, but the one we got was FWD.
For all its apparent success in other parts of the world, Mitsubishi was never much of a presence here in the U.S., dwarfed by Toyota and Honda, with few dealers and bland products. A neighbor had a Diamante back in the 80’s which was nice enough, but he said he couldn’t give it away at trade-in time.
I’ve never understood why that was the case. Toyota produced the most reliable vehicles, but Mitsubishi produced the best looking vehicles, at least until the late 90s, early 00s to today.
Good-looking car that, as others have noted, we never got here (though we did get a Sigma based on the following generation Galant). Love the angular shape of the wagon’s hatch/tail area, and that GSR looks quite the business.
The GJ Mitsubishi Sigma was also badge-engineered for the UK market as a “Lonsdale” – Lonsdale was the Adelaide suburb where the Chrysler/Mitsubishi engine factory was located.
The car was offered for sale in 1983-84, and sales were limited.
Getting back to Australia, I would have only seen about half a dozen on the road in the last year or so.
Nice looking car. I remember seeing these back in the early 1980s. They were sold as the Dodge Colt wagon. For some reason, they never sold well here in the USA.
So sorry guys, I had an early model Scorpion with Rounded front guards(yes round front guards) and have been searching for approx 3-4 years with no luck. Can anyone tell me where they were made and if they were a concept low numbers machine? Can’t find any online pictures so a bit of help would be appreciated. Thank you.