The Nissan Figaro had the platform of a Micra and the soul of a Austin-Healey

Back in the late 1980s, a group of Nissan executives in the Special Project division known as Pike Factory were brooding several ideas for small Kei cars. They chose four of these to make production cars, and attempted to makret them as personal cars. Most of these are very well known today: the Pao and Be-1 hatchbacks, the S-Cargo van and obviously the fixed profile convertible, the Figaro. Among these four modern classics, the Figaro is probably the best known.

The Figaro is close to Kei size but uses a one-litre turbocharged engine from the Micra, just like its chassis. That means that it isn't anything special to drive, but that's not the point of this car. The point of it was how fun it turned out to drive despite the chassis, due to the low weight, and also how adorable it was. Indeed, so many people wanted to buy a Figaro that a lottery had to be conducted just to determine who could get one.

The car has many cool details that are worth mentioning. It has four paint colours, each designed to represent a season: Topaz Mist (autumn), Emerald Green (spring), Aqua (summer) and Lapis Grey (Winter). The interior of the car was modelled on classic 1950s American car interiors, with a particularily prominent use of a Bakelite-like plastic on the knobs. It's convertible top is also unusual as the soft part is only a small area above the heads of the passengers rather than the entire roof of the car, as seen on cars like the Fiat 500. Overall, the Figaro is a cheerful little throwback to the 1950s and 1960s from Nissan.