Figaro finds a home on the Prairies
Quirky little car debuted as a concept vehicle at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show
Mozart’s opera The Marriage of Figaro recognizes the perfect relationship is like, as the duet from Act III indicates, “A little song on the breeze.”
Miles Matulionis certainly understands having the wind in his hair as he cruises in his fixed-profile convertible Nissan Figaro.
He’s so enamoured with the quirky Japanese vehicle that his relationship includes two of the one-year-only cars.
Matulionis had never been a vintage car collector and had spent most of his life driving modern automobiles.
But last year, as he was commuting along Macleod Trail in Calgary, he spotted an unusual little car travelling along the road.
“By chance, she pulled up beside us and I got the opportunity to ask just what the car was,” Matulionis says. “Turns out, it was a Figaro.”
After a bit of research, Matulionis learned the Nissan Figaro was a Japanese domestic market vehicle that debuted as a concept car in 1989 at the Tokyo Motor Show. There, the Figaro was one of four retro-styled cars based on the Nissan Micra platform shown under the theme: “Back to the Future.”
According to Matulionis, the Figaro draws some styling cues from the Italian-made Fiat Bianchina of the late 1950s. Other sources claim the Figaro pays homage to the Nissan Fairlady of 1962. Regardless of its design origins, the Figaro was a product of Nissan’s special projects department, known as the Pike Factory.
The Figaro arrived in 1991, and Nissan initially planned to build only 8,000. Due to demand, however, the automaker wound up producing 20,000. Prospective buyers entered a lottery for a chance at ownership.
A four-cylinder 987-cc engine, also found in the first-generation Nissan Micra, provides power for the Figaro. With the exception of a special model, most Micras, built between 1985-91 were normally aspirated.
In the Figaro, a turbocharger was added to the Micra engine to produce 76 horsepower and 78 poundfeet of torque. A three-speed automatic transmission transfers all of that power to the front wheels.
Nissan painted the right-hand-drive Figaros in colours to represent the four seasons, with fall as Topaz Mist, winter in Lapis Grey, spring as Emerald Green and summer in Pale Aqua.
Still enchanted by the Figaro, Matulionis began searching for a Lapis Grey model.
Thanks to Canada’s foreign market import rule for vehicles 15 years old and older, there seems to be something of a cult following for the Figaro in this country.
He enlisted the help of RightDrive of Pickering, Ont.
While it had a lead on a grey Figaro that Matulionis asked them to pursue, he instead discovered an Emerald Green car selling on Kijiji in Edmonton.
“It had only 10,000 kilometres on it, and talking on the phone with the seller I could tell he was very particular about his car,” Matulionis says. “It had never been driven in the rain. I bought it sight unseen.”
Matulionis got the car in October 2016 and drove it until the first snowfall.
“Everywhere I went, people would stop and talk about the car, probably due to it’s slightly Flintstone-esque appearance,” Matulionis says with a laugh. “They want to know what year it is, and are shocked to see it’s fairly modern with power windows and air conditioning.”
Over the winter, Matulionis finally found a Lapis Grey Figaro for sale in Japan.
Working through Japanese vehicle importer Zen Autoworks in Calgary, the car was inspected, purchased and delivered to Matulionis in March of 2017.
The most amazing aspect of his Lapis Grey car is the odometer reading. When purchased, it showed an ultralow 194 original kilometres. After some carefully planned trips, it now reads just over 300 km.
“With it that low, I have to really figure out where I drive and how far I do go in it. Just 20 km starts to really freak me out,” he says.
Matulionis has found the supply of parts in Canada can be an issue, but he’s been able to source pieces such as air and oil filters, timing belts and fuses and lights specific to the Figaro via suppliers in the U.K. The wheelbarrow-sized 12-inch tires are also difficult to find in North America.
Matulionis has set up a website called figaroprops.com.
He’ll rent the cars out for special occasion photography, and does the same with a pair of vintage Vespa scooters he owns.