How many nissan figaros were made

In the years since its release, and it has been 22 years now, most Figaros and a fair percentage of its Pike Factory brethren have settled down in the U. And while some Figaros and other Pike Factory cars are starting to pop up in Canada, taking advantage of the country's year rule for foreign market imports, there are only a couple of these in the U. Just how is that, you might ask? Costello spotted this Figaro on eBay a year ago, having been brought in from Canada.

He was searching for antique cars on eBay at the time, but the Figaro popped up through a fluke in the listing system. So they did a dry run and told me that I could, in fact, buy the car 'cause it was a kit. And I said 'No it's not a kit. It's a car. Even though the registration went smoothly, the inspection did not, and it was at that point that Costello was told that he couldn't register the car for road use.

So it was then that I was told by the registration that, 'No, you cannot have this car. They made a special exemption and classified it as an antique.

Needless to say, Costello's experience is probably unrepeatable in Massachusetts or almost anywhere else in the U. This could have easily ended with Costello being unable to register the car for a few years till it turned 25, and that would have been a best-case scenario given some other alternatives. So what's it like having one of the few Nissan Figaro in the North America? In reality, aside from the body and interior, the Figaro shares its engine and platform with the Nissan Micra K10, a car that wasn't available in the U.

The only major difference underneath the skin is that the Figaro's cc four-cylinder engine has a supercharger, whereas the Micra does not. We asked Costello how similar the Figaro is to its Pike Factory siblings.

Very, very simple, economic -- not turbo, you know. They get miles per gallon but no speed or anything else; they're very economical cars, the Be-1 and the Pao. Costello has only had to source a couple pieces of trim from the U. Speaking of which, it's pretty rare for a car from country A to migrate in huge numbers to country B, but such are Japan's laws and taxes for cars older than a few years.

Just how many of these are there in the U. Demand for the 10, copy production edition was so strong that Nissan introduced a lottery allocation system and did another run of Be-1s with a fabric sunroof. They were gone in three months, the void filled later that year by the S-Cargo , one of the quirkiest vehicles and there are plenty of contenders that Nissan has ever produced. An adorable high-roofed van, the S-Cargo came with snail logos, a sushi tray, the beefier guts of a Sunny and the option of portholes in its ultra-flat flanks.

By now ablaze with creativity, the Pike Factory followed up two years later with the Figaro. It went on to become the most famous of the Pike cars, despite a production run limited to just 20, Its shape could have been drawn by a child, the face created by its chrome-rimmed, slightly mournful headlights and simple elliptical grille as cartoonish as its silhouette.

The Figaro was unveiled at the Tokyo motor show in a year generally regarded as the high-water mark of this often extraordinary display of the bold, the oddball and the gloriously unnecessary.

Nissan could have sold more still, and not only in Japan. Of those original 20, Figaros, an amazing or so have subsequently been imported to the UK, their popularity sufficient to support several specialist dealers. Fadai eventually tired of the hour flights to Tokyo and now finds that there are enough Figaros in the UK to supply his showroom. The Figaro is all about the design details and the fleur-de-lis symbol is everywhere inside the vehicle from the door handles to the toggle switches to the rear view mirror cover.

The Figaro was also only available in four colors, each a pastel shade, which were each paired with a season. Emerald green spring , pale aqua summer , topaz mist autumn , and what my car is painted, lapis grey winter. The Figaro is a fixed-roof convertible, much like the modern Fiat , so the convertible top leaves the side pillars connected and the canvas top folds down into a rear trunk.

The Figaro is also right-hand drive, which is surprisingly easy to adjust to. Visibility is great, but the turn signal and wiper arms are flip-flopped and take some getting used to. The United States will effectively let you import whatever car you want from overseas if it is more than 25 years old. With the Figaro being closer to 30 years old, it passed right through without a problem and I have a Texas title. Insurance was even easier, as there are several options for collector car insurance that pay out a stated amount in a wreck and you agree to a low number of miles each year.

I bought mine through the auction website carsandbids. Lots of people actually import cars themselves from Japan. In almost every situation, a specialty broker is used to help bring a car in, but you can shop the car auctions in Japan and there are several companies to help you bid on and transport the car right to the Port of Galveston or Freeport. There is a whole world of quirky cars that you can import if you are willing to put up with the hassle of the process.