Junkyard Find: 1989 Mitsubishi Sigma
Remember the Mitsubishi Sigma? Nobody does! It was a semi-oddball four-door hardtop version of the Galant that was sold in the United States just for the 1989 and 1990 model years, and I believe this car— which I spotted at a San Francisco Bay Area self-service yard over the weekend— is the first one I’ve ever seen in person.
Four-door hardtops were big in the 1960s, but you didn’t have a lot of choices in that department by 1989. Mitsubishis had only been available in North America with non-Chrysler badging for a half-dozen years when this car was new, and Mitsubishi salesmen must have experienced major bouts of hopelessness when trying to convince Camry and Maxima shoppers to buy the Sigma instead.
I’d thought the Big Nose HVAC Guy was a Cordia-only thing, but it turns out that many Mitsubishis of the 1980s used this graphic.
The forward-stop-backward arrows on the shifter positions were a nice, if somewhat puzzling, Mitsubishi-style touch.
Since a lot of Detroit slushboxes were still three-speeds in 1989, the shifter handle got this bit of bragging.
I’m going to keep my eyes open for more Sigmas now, because they must be out there!
Murilee Martin is the pen name of Phil Greden, a writer who has lived in Minnesota, California, Georgia and (now) Colorado. He has toiled at copywriting, technical writing, junkmail writing, fiction writing and now automotive writing. He has owned many terrible vehicles and some good ones. He spends a great deal of time in self-service junkyards. These days, he writes for publications including Autoweek, Hagerty and The Truth About Cars.
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I just bought a 1990 Sigma from a friend. been fun to work on so far but can get a bit frustrating being that's its a bit rare. if anyone sees another one around i could use parts.
I inherited my 1989 Sigma from my father in law. It has 38K miles and is in mint condition. Kept in a garage for 12 years.