Project #2...Nissan Figaro

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Anyone following my Project #1 (mr2 sill repair...and rebuild!) will be screaming at me for starting something new without actually finishing the last project! Rest assured I'm getting the MR2 finished before I get started on the Figaro!

This one isn't for me....it's actually for a very good friend who always wanted a Figaro...we looked at about half a dozen but in the end decided to go with a project car/rolling restoration...

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

There is plenty of rust, rot, accident damage...the plan is to get the car MOT ready by doing a first round of fixes. The Figaro has no MOT, I bought it without hearing it run, it's had a minor argument with a small wall (on the front end) oh...and of course being a nissan there is also the usual rust and rot to deal with. Luckily having paid for the car I went to pick it up and it started straight away and ran beautifully...that was a close call!!

 

[Mark E]

I had no idea they were made by Nissan! I thought Fiat or another Italian make! Good to know!

Despite having little more than a passing interest in the vehicle, I'm more than a little enthusiastic to see what you get up to!

Great stuff!

 

[rtbcomp]

They're based on the Micra. One lives in my street and there's loads of photos on Flickr of them.

They're quite cool.

 

[Ton-up]

I'll be following what you are doing with this as my Mrs has always wanted one. They remind me of Columbo's Peugeot!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

They remind me of Columbo's Peugeot!

Aye, after a hot wash.

 

[marlinspike]

How old is it? I am surprised to hear of rust problems. Didn't think they would be old enough. We had a 52 reg Nissan that we sold a couple of years ago and it had no rust issues.

 

[gaz_moose]

these are about 1990 same family as the rasheen, Pao.
sound investment as they don't seem to change value.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Hi guys...thanks for the interest....I think you either love them or hate them. It is indeed a 1990...I think they only made 20,000 of them in a single production run so they really aren't that common. To be honest I wasn't a big fan originally and tried to convince her to want an mg instead!...but sitting in it the level of detail is very impressive, I keep spotting new little details here and there. The rot is mainly in the sills and the rear arches I think....although am sure more will pop up of course once I go digging.

I'll post lots of pics once I get started....reckon will begin in 2 weeks or so once my MR2 is out of the garage. There was high demand for the little car...so high that apparently in Japan they ran an auction with the winners being allowed to buy them...well thats what I read on line...true dunno?

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

The interior also got the full retro treatment...I really like it!

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Just been going through the paperwork...apparently this car was the subject of "...fully restored to an extremely high specification"...the work being carried out by a London based specialist (won't name them!). This is consistent with what the previous owner told me (nice guy too). Must say I'm a little skeptical but hey lets see where we get to with the body work...I've already seen a few areas where it looked like a tub of "two part welding compound" has been deployed with a spreader but maybe I'm mistaken!

 

[PhillipM]

Ha, my neighbour bought from what sounds like the same place - lets just say so far all the chrome, some of the paint, the aircon and half the engine has been repaired/replaced....in fact he's outside fitting a new grill at the minute as the 'chrome' turned out to be some silver tape wrapped around the plastic

 

[garethp]

'Fully Restored' and 'Specialist' are great phrase's! Our wreck of a VW camper has been 'restored' twice by 'specialists'

The first put patches over the holes but didn't bother with any kind of coating or paint on the back of the patches, the second put bigger patches over the holes in the first patches (still nothing on the back of the 2nd patches) and then applied filler and paint by the bucket load. Some areas are 5 or 6mm deep with filler but at least they did a pretty good job of painting it

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Yea garathp, sadly I think that happens a lot...we had the choice and decided on the project route....overall costs will probably be similar but at least we will know exactly what has been done. I looked at 7 Figaros and we picked the cheapest mechanically sound one we could find (fingers crossed!). The guy I bought it from was very honest about the condition...I feel happier buying a car where I can see the problems vs buying something that looks great and then have problems later on. But of course not everyone can go this route...a few I saw were definitely not right in terms of the work that had already been done.

Am genuinely excited to be starting something new...I may well be addicted to this mig malarky

 

[garethp]

Its a nice looking car and I totally agree with the project route, we struggled to find any vans south of Edinburgh or north of Manchester and ended up buying something which was supposed to have been restored but was starting to look a bit untidy - big mistake and I cant still cant really understand why I didn't walk away. I'll blame the wife as she was desperate to get one

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

My expert carefully inspecting the damage at the front! The bumper has been damaged but is still under there somewhere...according to the previous owner it was low speed bump which I can believe. Am hoping there isn't anything too serious under there....but the car was cheap as a result of the bump and the sill/arch rot so it's not like I didn't know when I bought it!

Won't know for sure until I pull the panels off the front...engine still runs fine, radiator seems to hold water and she drives so fingers crossed!! Ignore the paint tray....having my hallway painted at the moment...

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Here is some of the rot....from what I can tell the inner floor area is solid...it looks like the sills might have been patched previously...perhaps it was when she was "restored to an extremely high specification"!!

I will be starting at the front and working my way backwards...I think the bump at the front has the potential to be more problematic than the sills although I need to check the rear suspension mounts which I've heard can be a nightmare to repair if they rot.

Paperwork shows the car has been looked after at least mechanically so fingers crossed on that front too.

 

[Exuptoy]

Bought one for the wife a few years back. The rear passenger side arch was rusty and required work before I had it all painted in the original grey/cream colours before having a gold pearl put over the top. I replaced the roof vinyl which I got from a Figgy dealer called G.J Northall who I think has since jacked it in.
I found a polaroid of a young Japanese couple under the carpet when I was changing out the tired seats for a better set. The stereo has what I believe was the first CD player in a mass produced car (I maybe wrong on that), they usually struggle to read discs and can be repaired y a company down south somewhere. The interior of ours was sticky (I think it was a reaction between the original coating and 20 years of life in general) which I cleaned with 5l of celly thinners and repainted it with a colour matched vinyl paint from a local paint suppliers and it looked stunning when finished.
They are indeed based on a Nissan Micra 1.0 with a turbo bolted on and they are really quite sprightly for a 1.0 litre and being an automatic they really can be wound up off the traffic lights and surprise modern traffic.
The extras like the net shelf thingy under the dash and bumper side marker posts etc seem to fetch good money.
Ours went to a new owner locally and I haven't sen it now in over 6 years.

 

[Pigeon_Droppings2]

Wow that looks very nice indeed....good tip on the interior plastics, I may end up doing the same too I think. I heard people use soda crystals to get rid of the sticky stuff but haven't yet tried. Did you also paint those wheel covers too?

That paint job looks great...mine is being done on a budget so doubt there is money for a nice paint job in the kitty! Have to say I didn't like the car originally but I do find myself making excuses to go out to the drive to have a poke around....definitely has some character.

I bet your car is parked up in a garage somewhere...looks like it's been SORN actually.

 

[Exuptoy]

Yeah, I checked a few weeks ago out of curiosity. Either that or they sold the plate to someone else. It was originally on a H plate if I remember right.
The wheel covers were original paint. If I remember the paint job cost us around £1200 and was done by a guy down Pembroke way called Mike from Autosmart paints..
Good luck with the rebuild they really do get under your skin. Been seeing more and more of them around lately, I think they're going through a bit of a resurgence.