Nissan Figaro at 30: plotting the retro roadster's history

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 20,000. 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 1989 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.

As with the S-Cargo, the plan was to build 8000, but vast demand increased this number by 150% and all 20,000 were sold before the first Figaro hit the road in 1990. Nissan could have sold more still, and not only in Japan. Of those original 20,000 Figaros, an amazing 6000 or so have subsequently been imported to the UK, their popularity sufficient to support several specialist dealers.

One such is Bookham Autos near Leatherhead in Surrey, affable boss Hamid Fadai having sold them for around 12 years. He originally specialised in importing used high-performance models such as Nissan Skylines and Subaru Imprezas “but brought a Figaro back when there were only 10 in the UK”. He sold it for £11,000, discovering a profitable sideline that became his main business “when the bottom dropped out of the performance market”.

Fadai eventually tired of the 11-hour flights to Tokyo and now finds that there are enough Figaros in the UK to supply his showroom. “I buy from old customers who’ve grown out of the cars or had children,” he says. Most of his buyers are between 30 and 55 years old and many are teachers, “who love them”. He reckons 70% of his buyers are women, 15% men and 15% gay couples of both sexes.

Many of the challenges of owning a car never originally sold in the UK don’t apply to the Figaro. “All spares are available now,” says Fadai, and – the marque spotting this opportunity – from your local Nissan dealer, too.

Step into a Figaro now and it’s impossible not to be amused by its indulgently artful interior and the almost armchair-like seats. The bodywork sounds very tinny compared with today’s NCAP-girded cars, but on the road the Figaro feels as robust as any other Nissan despite the structural cavity made by its neat foldaway roof.

Dynamically, it’s almost as dull as its Sunny and Nissan Micra contemporaries, except that you get a turbo with your 1.0 litre auto, allowing the Figaro to surge through traffic like a fully wound clockwork toy. It’s as simple to drive as it’s charming, and easy to see why it struck a chord in Britain. It still does today, as rising prices testify. Amazing to think that it’s now three decades old, the car’s retro styling enabling it to look perpetually young. Which may be the key to its appeal.

Fab four from the Pike factory

BE-1 - launched 1987, numbers made 10,000: Appealing mix of cutesy 1960s retro and the odd modernist curve. Micra innards, wire mesh door bins.

PA0 - launched 1989, numbers made 51,657: Utility made funky for this rib-panelled hatchback with split tailgate, bodycolour dashboard and roof rack.