Thread: One for the car experts - station wagons of the 60s and 70's...

Originally Posted by rainman

I will admit I have never driven a Sigma, but probably because there were none left operable by the time I got my license .

Seriously - I have no personal experience. I can really only go on what other people have told me, but most notably my boss who, as a young mechanic, worked on his fair share of problematic Astron motors in the early eighties.

Every car has it's fans. I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to defend the humble Sigma.

Place I worked for at the time had a fleet of Sigmas as rep's cars. Someone at head office had been bitten by the false "four cylinder economy" bug.

Salient features:-

Fuel consumption in non air conditioned form was worse than air conditioned Commodores.

High (sometimes staggering) oil consumption.

Severe dust entry particularly into the boot. Reps would put their luggage into plastic bags or wrap them in blankets.

High maintenance front suspension in country usage.

Low headroom in the first models restricted their use to staff < 182 cm.

Mitsubishi would never admit to the dust problem or the oil consumption. Their approach to the oil consumption was to have an oil log book at the dealership and the reps were to take the cars to the dealership where the oil would be dipped and the amount added recorded. The Mitsu rep was speechless when one of our men said he would need log books at St. George, Charleville, Roma, and Goondiwindi. Why? Well if he drove Brisbane - Goondiwindi he had to put 2 litres in for the return trip.

The reps hated the cars and I am sure went out of their way to trash and bash them. Sigmas were totally unsuited to other than urban service. They wore out and disintegrated quickly in long haul Qld. outback service.

Originally Posted by rainman

Oh . It's so hard to not keep Sigma bashing (sorry Diana).......

If you removed the balance shafts surely you're opening up a while new can of worms? It would only get a few kilometres down the road before it shook the body apart into it's individual pieces.

Removing the balance shafts was a common repair procedure. There were even commercial kits available.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

Did you ever drive a Sigma?

Not quite understanding this Sigma bashing as well. I never owned one - I had a 74 Galant - same car just a little earlier.

My dad had a 79 2.6 Sigma Station wagon - it was unusual in that it was made in Japan and not Aust like the rest - still had Chrysler badges on it though. My brother also had a later model station wagon.

I drove both cars a lot as my dad was sick and had to be driven around. While they were not the most exciting car to drive - what 70/80s family cars were - it was a good solid car that was really reliable - could get along quite well and was quite comfortable. I would say it was better than the Datsun 200b, the four cylinder Toranas and indeed most of the other 4 cylinder hacks available at the time.

We had ours for nearly 20 years and never had any major issues.

Garry

Originally Posted by Brian Hjelm

'twas the FE, John. First Holden Station Wagon in production. FC & FB also had wagons. I seem to recall a few Vauxhall wagons getting about. What about Chrysler Royals? What was their engine size? The six cylinder versions were < 4 litres. Does anyone else remember the Renault Prairie?

I thought the FE/FC/FBs were conversions, but my memory could be faulty. There were probably a number of makes and models that made the wagon available, but very few were sold, so most people never saw them. This would have particularly applied to imports.

Which reminds me - Citroen ID19 - should have remembered it, as I owned a 1960 one for years. Eight seater, and would just about do 100mph on a 1885cc engine producing only 69hp.

John

Interesting comments.

Our Sigmas rarely did city work, and as I said mine went to Cairns (via Bourke and Blackall etc). My parents one did a lot of NSW and Victorian country work going to various Poll Hereford studs and clearing sales. They were however Chrysler Sigmas with the 2 litre engines and not the post 1980 Mitsubishi Sigmas. Perhaps the Mitsu variants weren't built to the same standards.

At 173 cm I'm the tallest in our family so the low roof was not a problem. We were previously a Holden family so Ford was out, but the local Holden dealer in Nowra had a city attitude and after a few problem purchases we wouldn't buy anything from them again.

Originally Posted by Lotz-A-Landies

They were however Chrysler Sigmas with the 2 litre engines and not the post 1980 Mitsubishi Sigmas.

I think therein lies the issue. The 2.6 Astron engine was typically a fuel guzzling POS.

A typical 2.6 Magna would use about 2L/100 more than a 3.8 VN commodore.

Originally Posted by isuzurover

I think therein lies the issue. The 2.6 Astron engine was typically a fuel guzzling POS.

A typical 2.6 Magna would use about 2L/100 more than a 3.8 VN commodore.

The carby 2.6 in the Sigma gave pretty good consumption though we did come from a Valiant 160Hp slant six. However the Sigma was delivering about 30mpg about the same as my 2 litre Lancia I had at the time.

Also the Sigma gave a lot better consumption that the Series 1 86 I had also had - it had a 161 red engine - also about 2.6 litres.

Didn't the Morris Marina come in a wagon?

Ah no that's right, you said cars that weren't a disgrace......