Country Pete

Good to hear from somebody who sold Mitsubishi Sigmas when they were new.You were saying in my other thread about selling two in the yellowstone colour.Have you got any other memories of selling Sigmas in the early 1980s,I would love to hear!.
Robin.

Yes, lots of memories.Brand new Mirage for $10,200-odd, and you could own one for a year, and change to a new one for around $2,000.They hit $20,000 in about 1986 and we thought we would never sell them!Of course the equivalent today is around the same price (new Swift = $20,000).

We had a new Starion for sale in 1983. $64,000 but you could not buy it unless you had a desirable trade.

I remember trading a one owner1961 Vanguard done 60,000 miles and like new, for $800 (that was on a lancer - reg number started with KO something.George Cunningham Jupp from Khandallah - he was over 80 at the time).

That was in the days when the Todd family owned the plant, and also the Kirk Motors group.John Todd himself chose the names for the colours - Yellowstone was one, also Kimono on the FWD Sigmas, Zazzy green on Tredias and Cordias. (Now there was a fast car in its day - the 1.8 Cordia turbo of 1985 - I had a couple of them as demo cars).

Mike Todd restored a charger E49 to absolute mint cond.He was a really good bloke

In terms of the RWD Sigmas, we sold heaps of them, in those days the private segment was a lot stronger.The GR series was a huge improvement on the earlier ones, and went OK in 1600cc version, and very well in 2.0 - don't forget they competed against the last of the MK V Cortinas, and VC Commodore 4cyl, so they didn't have to be THAT good to be better than those things,,.

We turbocharged a couple of the 2.0 Sigmas - one was a Super saloon (which meant it had fancy trim and a rev counter).Man that thing could go, well, ina straight line anyway!

Also in the late '80s some dealers were just starting to import used cars from Japan.Most were sourced from scrap in Japan, and a good number of series one RX7's came in containers - on their sides- to fit more in the container.Some cars had dents in the roof - that's where they were stacked on top of each other in the Japanese scrap yard.Man there was some crap imported in those days.But they were often as not sold at a premium, as "Japaneseassembled" had some prestige, and they often had luxury extras, like power steering and electric windows!Hell, some even had air cond!

[(Now there was a fast car in its day - the 1.8 Cordia turbo of 1985 - I had a couple of them as demo cars).

In terms of the RWD Sigmas, we sold heaps of them, in those days the private segment was a lot stronger.The GR series was a huge improvement on the earlier ones, and went OK in 1600cc version, and very well in 2.0 - don't forget they competed against the last of the MK V Cortinas, and VC Commodore 4cyl, so they didn't have to be THAT good to be better than those things,,.

We turbocharged a couple of the 2.0 Sigmas - one was a Super saloon (which meant it had fancy trim and a rev counter).Man that thing could go, well, ina straight line anyway![/quote]
In 1985 when the Cordia Turbo was released that was my dream car,I was only 12 at the time,I even had a poster on my wall of the Black Mitsubishi Cordia 1800 Turbo.I remember the saying "It will blow your socks off".
As a Knight Rider Fan I thought the Cordia looked even better than Kitt.
My Dad onced owned a 1982 Sigma 2000 GLX.Dad was the second owner,the first owner had purchased the car as a ex demo from Auckland Motors and had been dressed up a little by Auckland Motors,it was the original pale blue on the top but the bottom half had been painted dark blue and had Cheviot Mags fitted.
The 2 litre definatley had more beans than my 1600

My Sigma was sold new in Te Aroha in January 1982.
I think the dealer was called Modern Auto Services,I will dig out the ownership papers (yes the original papers) and see who they sold it to.I know it was company owned from 1982 till 1984.

hey countrypete what year did you get out of the game!

Over the years I have managed to collect the new car brochures for the Sigma including 'Suddenly Sigma' Media Preview Dinner booklet.

Got out of retail sales in 1988 - a few years back now!But I'm still involved inthe motor trade still have some contacts in the car industry.More on the bike side these days.

I don't suppose you would have known anyone from a King County Motors (a Mitsubishi dealership) in Taumarunui!

No, don't recall anyone from there.