Project Nissan Figaro

Picking up from where we left off last issue, there is a little more disassembly to do on the Figaro’s interior and a couple more repairs to make before we can put it back together for the drive home.

The Figaro Shop help us put the interior back together after the dash renovation, plus tackle a few other smaller jobs too.

Last issue we detailed how the guys at The Figaro Shop in Didcot had helped us remove the dash from our Figaro in preparation for replacing the cracked top with one of their leather- covered items. This issue, TFS’s Ant Absolom showed us how to fit the new top, and also how to retension the seatbelt – the driver’s one has always been slow to retract, not enough to be dangerous or fail the MoT, but enough to make it more vulnerable to getting shut in the door. This is apparently a common problem on Figaros.

While the dash was out, we also took the opportunity of replacing the dash light bulbs with brighter LEDs, as the dials had always been difficult to read at night. We have a lot to squeeze into this issue and only three pages to take it all, so instead of waffling on here we will crack on with the pictures and let them tell the story. We did promise to include details of the costs for this stage of the project though, so here they are: Leather dashboard top: £350 Handbrake lever surround (used): £42 Speaker cover grilles (refurbished): £60.98 LED dash bulbs: £22.46

Door card popper (x3): £5.98

Rear chrome shield (Fleur de Lys): £22.87 Heater control knob: £30.54 Driver’s door window relay: £105

As you can see, some of the little details such as heater control knobs can be eyewateringly expensive, but that is the price you have to be prepared to pay for owning such a rare and unusual car, and a model that was never officially imported into the UK. Perhaps the better way of looking at it is that we are lucky people like The Figaro Shop are able to supply so much from stock. Certainly owners of many other more mainstream classics would give their eye teeth for that kind of availability!

1 The plastic dash structure itself is quite brittle, presumably not reacting well to the aging process. Ours was cracked in a couple of places, but this break was not in a critical position.

2 This is the underside of the old dash top, showing the metal clips that are folded over the dash structure to hold it in place. The metal top will support the fragile plastic section pictured in step 1.