Happy 35th Birthday to the Nissan Figaro!

35 years ago today, the first Nissan Figaro (VIN FK10-000051) rolled off the production line at the Takada Kogyo Factory in Tokyo.

It’s no coincidence that such a wonderful little car, that raises many a smile, shares its birthday with Valentine’s Day every year!

We are looking forward to some wonderful events taking place this weekend!

Even if you don’t manage to get to one this weekend, perhaps you are celebrating in your own way! Join us in a celebratory BEEP BEEP and please send us your photos with a little description of how your are celebrating, so we can share with other members.

We also have so many wonderful events already added by our fantastic Chapter Coordinators to the Events Calendar – grab your space while you can!

After a great initial response (nearly 50% of the rooms have already gone!), we are pleased to announce that we have now been able to release additional options over on the Big Birthday Bash Event Page! … so those wishing to attend some events rather than the whole birthday bash can do so!

If you have already registered requesting rooms, PLEASE DON’T WORRY, we have you registered! Unfortunately, we have had another delay on taking the booking page live with the hotel, so will have to come out with what we do about that next week. Such is life!! But plenty of time to get it right! 😉

In the meantime, enjoy the car’s launch birthday weekend!

Read on below all about the history of how the car came about, the prototype and the concept and design brochure below!

How the Figaro was born

The Figaro has been referred to as a ‘retro fashion car,’ and was born out of the Japanese ’boutique’ movement in car design. Japanese designer Shoji Takahashi was inspired by Swatch watches – the notion that it was possible to give identical products different casings. Around 1988 the magpies of the Figaro design team took all the best and shiniest bits from a variety of European cars and fused them into an almost-cartoon whole. There’s something there to remind you of just about every classic car you have ever seen. An Austin Healey specialist provided the grille, a Vauxhall one the chrome and some panels are Ford Popular, others vintage Rootes. Owners will become used to pensioners approaching to say ‘I had one of those in the sixties!’ – no mean feat considering the car was introduced to the public at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show under the slogan ‘Back to the Future.’

We have managed to locate a YouTube video of the show (thanks to Tyler McMenamin) of the actual show. The Tokyo Motor Show was held in 1989 at Makuhari Messe for the first time. The show was in the midst of a bubble economy and focused on luxury cars. Toyota 4500GT, Celsior, Nissan Infiniti Q45, President, Honda NSX, and Eunos Cosmo and the Figaro were exhibited and attracted a lot of attention. Read more

Figaro Prototype – 1988

Owners of the car may be particularly interested in the early concept design of the Figaro. We have published some wonderful pictures that demonstrate how the early design was spot-on and very little actually changed when the car went into full production. This is truly remarkable, and it’s a testament to the designers of the car that their original concept still remains so recognisable today. It’s a great example of how the original design can be so timeless and classic. Read more

Concept & Design Brochure – 1990

Back in 1990, Nissan produced this 14-page A5 brochure showing early sketches and detailing of the car. In addition to familiar images, the publication also covers interesting items such as airflow and additional strengthening and rigidity of the chassis. Divided into sections including Concept, Exterior, Interior, Mechanism of convertible top & Specification. Nissan must have been looking for 4 colours to represent the seasons and rather the publication reveals that these were inspired by gemstones. Emerald Green is based on the crisp green colour of Emeralds, Pale Aqua is the blue colour of Aquamarine, Topaz Mist is the calm beige of Topaz and lastly Lapis Grey is the deep blue-grey of Lapis Lazuli. Thanks to Japanese Member Yuki Saga for sending us a copy of the brochure.

View/Print/Download Brochure Click here