November & December 2020 Newsletter - Issue No 113 |
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Good Afternoon {first name} and welcome to our 'NEW LOOK' Newsletter. We hope you like the layout and as you may have noticed at the top our new Corporate Banner now shows all four colours rather than just the Emerald Green example. |
It's hard to believe that this COVID nightmare started back in March and 7 months on, we seem to be back to square one. Like you, Sue and I are crossing everything that the smart people come up with vaccine in the new year. On a positive note the club has been busier than ever and membership has actually grown during the last few months. It may just be that despite everything the joy of buying and owning this special little car and the smiles it returns to us, keeps us all sane in these strange times.
Planning for next years 30th Birthday Party celebrations is gathering pace and you will see below the design for the field layout. We have taken great effort to make sure we are all parked with a good distance between each other to stop those wide doors clashing! Even though the event is still 8 months away, interest remains strong and as the old saying goes "If you build it they will come" has never been more relevant. At the time of writing we have 212 cars registered and 15 trade stands booked. Next on the list is the plan the Sunday drive-out which will see cars leave in colour order and meet at some point on-route. We intend to have a drone hovering at that very point to capture this one-off event on all its glory.
That's more than enough about us so lets turn to the newsletter which features three wonderful events the Dutch Figaro After Summer Tour, Scotland's Kames Classic Car Show and lastly The Classic Car Drive-in Weekend. Despite COVID trying to ruin the party we were so pleased these went ahead.
There are member contributions from Samantha Coleman, Yuki Saga, Wolfang Stenner and Paul Manning. You will also see I have been busy shooting some more videos and have a 'to do' list for the winter so watch this space.
Finally if you use your Figaro over winter it might be worth just checking a few important areas before it gets to cold, such as Radiator – water and antifreeze levels, Engine – oil levels, Power Steering – fluid levels, Brakes – brake fluid, Gear Box – gear box oil & Windscreen Washer – water and screen cleaner.
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INSURANCE VALUATIONS
Priced at £16 our 2 Year Insurance Valuation Certificates are highly recommended to protect your value.
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FIGARO TRADER
Launched 5 years ago our online platform allows you to buy and sell Figaro Cars, Parts & Accessories.
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PROMOTE AN EVENT
This could be a local car show you know about or your own figgy meet. Get in touch and we will promote it.
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A personal welcome from Kevin & Sue |
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We love running this little club and are here to help in anyway we can. Although I personally don't claim to know everything about the car, as a club we are truly blessed to be surrounded by such helpful and friendly members who I can turn too, so ask away!
We hope you have enjoyed our NEW LOOK edition and wanted to remind everyone that we are always on the lookout for great stories and helpful and interesting content. Have a great (safe & healthy) Christmas and catch you in a couple of months if not sooner.
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Precision Parking at the 30th Birthday Party
With 8 months to go we are delighted to announce that a couple of weekends ago we hit the 200th Figaro to register for this unique event taking place next June. The display field has been designed to allow all the cars to park in colour order which will not only look fantastic it will also help when we go on our drive-out. We are hoping to attract 250 and maybe as many as 300 cars which will be the largest ever gathering if Figs. This event will not be repeated so we urge everyone to try to make attend.
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Figaro Stickers
Swiss member Josephine Vermilye has created a range of glossy weather resistant Figaro stickers cut to the profile of the car. Available in 4 different colours the size is 2.29″ high by 4″ wide. Possible uses include Reusable water bottle, Laptop, Skateboard, Window Sticker, Helmet or even your Forehead! Durable Vinyl Water + Weather Resistant sticker. Priced at £3.24 each
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30th Birthday Saturday Tours
All tours are around the same length and have been created by Explore England.
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Nissan Figaro Emissions
For those looking to register the car with local highways or government agencies you will require compliance data. The information includes how the car was originally tested and covers the Hydrocarbons (HC), Carbon monoxide (CO) and Nitrogen (NOx) test results.
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Electric Figaro - Update
Club Member James Brown has shared another video of his Electric Figaro build. Progress is going well and you can see from this video the testing of speed. torque, reverse and braking plus regeneration.We have a page dedicated to Electric Figaros on our website. Learn more
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The Figaro Story (1991 Film)
This 98min Omnibus Film was screened in 1991 and captures the Nissan Figaro in Paris, Tokyo and New York.
The film follows three love stories, ‘LIBRALY LOVE’ in Paris, ‘MAN FROM THE MOON’ in Tokyo and ‘KEEP IT TO YOURSELF’ in New York. Directors: Alejandro Agresti, Kaizô Hayashi. Download Brochure or Watch Film.
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Wish Us Luck!
This year’s challenges mean Classic & Sports Car’s Club Awards 2020 will have a new-look with a virtual ceremony. As past winners (2015 best improved magazine & 2017 best club run) we thought why not have a go and apply under these two categories; Best Club Website & Social Media Award. we will not know for a few months if we have been successfull but keep everything crossed for us.
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Any Colour you Like
Nic Caraccio from the Figaro Doctor has launched a brand new range of custom colour Ignition Leads for the Nissan Figaro. The lead set of 8mm performance Silicone Leads are made to order and hand crafted. Priced at £39.95 a set and available in Black or a range of colours. We know many of our members own custom coloured Figs so why not add some colour to your engine bay!
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Figaro Coaster Stocking Filler
Club Member Colin Haynes has designed and printed these 3D drinks mats in the four traditional colours, plus pretty much any other colour you happen to have your Figgy resprayed.
With Christmas just around the corner and priced at just £2.50 each plus p/p these could be a great stocking filler!
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The Big Picture
The image that makes us smile
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Never a truer statement in these strange times. This cool image was photographed by The Pink Figaro in Charleston, South Carolina USA and posted on the Nissan Figaro Thailand Facebook Site.
If you are on Facebook and love to see and read about all things Figaro it's well worth checking out.
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Dutch Figaro After Summer Tour
Dedicated to the late Jan Oldenkamp who was a big Figaro enthusiast this tour was attended by 22 cars
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Words & Pictures by Pascal & Joyce
Sunday the 27th of September was the Dutch After Summer Tour 2020. During the preparations we were all the time not sure if the event could go on, with the Covid-19 as a black shadow over the world. We were so happy and lucky that our Figaro Event could go on, we choose the perfect weekend, we know afterwards. We dedicated our 2020 tour to Jan Oldenkamp, Jan passed away August 6th Jan was a big Figaro enthusiast and the first ever participant of the Figaro after summer tour.
At his memorial Carolien Oldenkamp told us she will join the tour with one of their children. That made us decide to give the start number 1 again to “Team Oldenkamp”, Carolien & Geert. With 22 Figaro’s present we had the biggest Figaro event in Europe for 2020.
The most popular colour this year was Lapis grey, 10 cars. 3 Emerald, 2 Topaz, 2 Pale aqua and 5 custom colours complete the list. All day was situated around the national park, De Hoge Veluwe. It is a beautiful park in a very green part of the Netherlands. There is a great wild fauna living, an excellent museum, bikes that people can use during the day but more important for us, it’s very car friendly as well. At the park pavilion we had an own room for the whole day, were the people can check the road book with coffee and cake at the start, had an very nice lunch as break and a drink and bite at the end of the Figaro day. In total we had 90 Km in the morning and still 85 Km in the afternoon, true lovely villages, nice city’s and even a river to cross with a small ferry.
We had a puzzle tour written out for everybody, with questions to answer, pictures of locations on the track to find an hidden letters in the field to find. With all this items they could score points and at the and Dick & Wyhncke were the winners of the 2020 edition of the After Summer Figaro Tour with 320 points out of 370 points maximum.
Joyce and I had a great time preparing the tour, and enjoyed so much all the happy faces during the day. Please stay healthy and maybe we met at the After Summer Figaro Tour, Sunday 26th Sept 2021.
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Rear Lower Boot Tray
If your car does not contain a tray it maybe worth trying to buy one as it does add much needed storage to the Figaro
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Available from Nissan for a price of £97 back in 1991 the Rear lower Boot Tray was an Optional Extra. You can see that it has compartments which were created to accept optional items such as the Figaro Car Set, Car Cover and maybe a foldable breakdown triangle? The tray capacity is 560mm wide x 640mm deep x 90mm high.
Where can I buy one?
If your Figaro doesn't contain a tray it maybe worth trying to buy one. It does add much needed storage to the car. Unfortunately they are no longer available from Nissan but do come up for sale occasionally on Ebay or Figaro Trader
We have also translated the A4 leaflet which was supplied with the item. Thanks to member Yuki Saga.
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On Your Bike!
Back in 1991 Nissan created a range of push bikes to help sell the Figaro, Be-1 and Pao cars. We take a closer look at these now valuable bikes.
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The bicycles above were built under licence by the Tsunoda Corporation. If you look closely you can see the Figaro bike below carries the DNA of the car with its gentle curves and the more observant of you might notice it includes 3 x Fleur De Lys petals (like our steering wheel) around the chain cog cover and Figaro emblem on the front.
This bike was found by a Japanese Figaro owner and may be the only surviving example of the Emerald Green model.
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Above are the leaflets that promoted the bikes and cars. Strangely the bikes were only available in two colours; Lapis Gray & Emerald Green and priced at a hefty £366 (equivalent to almost £700 in today’s money!).
Thanks to Kazuhiro Koike & Yuki Saga for help with this article.
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Kames Classic Car Show
Scottish members enjoy some blue skies and brave PPE to enjoy a 'nearly normal’ Figgy owners’ get together!
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Words & Pictures by Ken Graham
As 2020 dawned we were all probably looking forward to bright spring/summer days and checking the Figaro Owners Club ‘Events’ page on the website to plan our Figaro outings for the year ahead.
Then…. COVID-19…and lockdown!
Obviously, the loss of Rallies, Car Shows and Figaro drive-outs are of little consequence when it comes to public health and it was clear that most, if not all, our events would, rightly, be cancelled, and that proved to be the case.
As lockdown was gradually lifted, the Scottish Government’s guidance on outdoor gatherings was issued, and indicated a date in August (24th) from where, with appropriate mitigations in place, outdoor events would be permitted. So, the East Ayrshire Car Club planned a ‘COVID Safe’ event for their re-arranged show on Saturday 29th August. Once details were submitted the local Council licensed the event and Police Scotland also gave their approval.
Although it was a fairly easy decision for me to plan to attend, as we all know, the lifting of lockdown has presented us all with challenges – ‘How safe will I feel?’, ‘What if exhibitors/public ignore the guidance?’ All these questions were going through my head, and I’m sure the heads of all those thinking of coming along. So, it was with a little trepidation that we set off (an early start at 7.30am) to get set up and ready for the public arriving at 10am. We met a few hundred yards from the venue so all six Figaros (and my brother as an interloper with his Aston Martin!) could arrive together and be parked beside each other.
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Meet Our Members
We love to publish pictures of our members and their cars. Here's a selection of some of our latest Figs from around the globe.
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Door Locks Video
Watch this short video on how to maintain your doors looks and avoid being locked out of your Figaro!
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If you have shut the door and locked the car but then you cannot open it, this is usually due to the trigger lever within the handle becoming stuck inside the handle. This can happen over time as dirt enters the space between the trigger lever and handle. In addition the returning spring mechanism which pulls the lever back can become rusted and will not work correctly.
Kevin shows you how to release the trigger lever bu applying oil and ‘working’ the lever until it springs back to its correct position. Once it has sprung back to this position you can open the door.
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HOW TO MAINTAIN YOUR LOCKS
Remember your doors locks are almost 30 years old and chances are they've never been oiled in all that time so it's worth checking that the trigger levers on both handles are moving well. We recommend opening the door, removing the access grommet and with a torch try to spray oil onto the inside of the lock mechanism whilst pressing the trigger lever.
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Beauty & holistic therapy expert
Despite Figaro breakdowns and lockdown costs Samantha still sees her Figaro named 'Faith' as a vital part of her business.
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Words & Pictures Samantha Coleman |
Having owned Faith for seven years now & been a member of the club, I thought this would be a great opportunity to share our story with you. We are based in Bournville in South Birmingham & as you know, I am a small freelance business owner providing beauty & holistic therapy treatments to clients. We also provide face & body art for events & festivals which was set up Just over three years ago. Faith makes this all possible & she brings so much joy to our lives & others.
I first purchased Faith (who was named Figgy originally) from a lovely lady in Gloucester back in 2013 once I fully qualified as a beauty therapy lecturer. I have been a therapist for 18 years & in 2010 I started my first teaching job which enabled me to finally purchase the car of my dreams.
Between March & July of this year, my work came to a complete standstill, however as my Mother is as a care assistant in a nursing home, we thought best to put her to good use & my mom drove her to & from work everyday. As you can imagine, working long shift, early starts & late finishes especially through such challenging times, she was definitely making a difference. As always, she was putting smiles on everyone’s faces where my Mother was parking her at work & ran beautifully without any issues at all. It was after these few Months of most challenging times that I decided I wanted to call her Faith.
Unfortunately, having taken our girl for an MOT on Tuesday to a specialist (for the first time, which was very exciting), we almost didn’t make it.
We cut out just off the M40 & having managed to get her started again, I called the AA just to be safe. They checked her over & there was nothing obvious to them but they offered to follow us the rest of the way.
After another 4 miles on the M40, as we came off, we cut out again at an island. Managed to chuggle all the way to a lay-by where she completely died. We were then towed the rest of the way.
It was not good news unfortunately, Faith has engine failure & was only running on 3 cylinders 😢 amongst a long list of other repairs having also failed her MOT.
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It’s been an emotional couple of days to say the least as I have had some tough decisions to make.
Having already spent a considerable amount of money on cosmetics just before lockdown, as we had plans to use her for events & festivals along with spending the last few months out of business.
Thankfully business is back up & running but without Faith that would just not be possible. We have so many dreams for our business involving Faith & without her the journey would just not be the same. Thankfully, we are able to find the funds to get her fixed, back on the road & back home where she belongs. All I can say is, she really is such a huge part of our lives & the thought of not been able to get her fixed or drive her again was heartbreaking. We have giving the good news to the garage & they have said that she should be really for collection early next week which is amazing news!!
Myself & my husband have also volunteer ourselves to our Daughters school to collect food donations ever Friday & take them to the B30 food bank along with any other collections requested in our community so I’m pleased to say that having Faith will contribute to making this possible once she is safely back to us next week.
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Samantha will be at our 30th Birthday Party and offering Face & Body Art. Glitter & Festival Hair & Make-up. |
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Transmission Fluid Dipstick Mod
If you've ever tried to check the fluid level of the gear box you will know how hard it is to locate, reach in and pull out the dip stick!
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Words & Pictures Paul Manning
I’ve read with interest some of Kevin's articles and indeed videos regarding Figaro repairs and maintenance, so, if you’ve not already thought of it the transmission fluid dipstick mod may interest you.
As you can see by the picture at the top it’s just an off-cut of underfloor heating pipe that’s been heated with a hot air gun until it just pushed over the top of the dipstick handle, although any piece of semi-rigid plastic pipe would do however and it works a treat.
The bottom picture shows how easy it is to see the dipstick now.
I’d dropped the transmission sump plate to check and clean the gearbox filter and got fed up with struggling to check the fluid level! It would be easily taken off to revert to the original set up if required.
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The Classic Car Drive-in Weekend
Facemasks and hand cleaning gel was the order of the day at this event which was blessed with autumn sunshine.
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Words & Pictures by Kevin Fagan
This event took place over the weekend of the 18-20 September 2020 at the Bicester Heritage Centre. Huge shout-out to Scottish member Ken Graham who left home on Thursday and drove all the way down from Glasgow to organise members over the weekend.
To keep everyone safe during these COVID times the club invested in a temperature reader and briefed everyone to wear masks if they feel they need to, try to keep a 2 metre social distance and in groups no larger than 6.
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Thanks also to Pete and Sandra who brought down their custom Figaro named 'Sally'. She always attracts so much attention and we were very lucky to have her in the display.
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The weather was kind to us with Sunday being the warmest day. It was sunny over all three days but with a cold wind on the Friday and Saturday. Thanks to everyone who helped support the event, we had 5 cars on Friday and Saturday, increasing to 8 cars on Sunday. Steve Leniham broke down but still attending in his Yaris!
We applaud Brand Events for taking a huge financial risk in organising this event during very challenging times. After such a tough year it was so nice to meet old friends and enjoy our cute little cars again.
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Dash Colour Change
German Member Wolfgang Stenner finds a neat (and low cost) solution to upgrading/renovating your dash top.
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Words & Pictures Wolfgang Stenner
The colour of the dash top of our aqua blue Figaro (see right image) wasn't exactly wanted. To me it didn't appear green or grey. For some time, I had been looking for the right product to change it a nice blue but without having to remove the whole dashboard or to use a spray can.
After more research I found the perfect product called CLEANOL. It looks like a tube of Shoe Polish and the consistence is very similar, but it is water soluble, so not smelly and it is very simple to get it on the surface. Included is a little sponge, which you moist with water. It is easy to spread it on the surface, where it dries in minutes. Then you can start with the next layer, if necessary. For the edges and narrow spaces I used a brush. The product can be used on outer surfaces, so to recolour plastic bumpers. Because of that, I hope the layer will last a while. I removed the hard plastic parts of the dashboard and resprayed them with a normal colour spray of the same RAL number.
CRACKED DASHBOARD SOLUTION
We think this could be a possible solution to repairing a ‘cracked dashboard’ which the Figaro can suffer from. Maybe a possible fix could be to apply some ‘filler’ in the crack, sand and then apply this finish over the top. It may be worth trying as this will be considerably cheaper than recovering the top which requires the removal of the dash which is very time consuming and adds to the cost
ABOUT CLEANOL
There are several colours available and you can mix them. The website is in German but we have provided a link direct to the item so you can see the colours available. We think this could be possible solution to cracked dashboards. Maybe you could apply some filler in the crack and apply this product over the top?
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With the new paint applied |
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As you will notice on the photos, I used tape on the steering wheel for a better grip. This is tape normally used on the handle bars of racing bikes. It is a lot cheaper than the leather products you can buy and you can easily change and renew them. You can put them on the handbrake handle and the gear lever too. |
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Nissan Figaro 30th Birthday Party Weekend 2021
We invite members to bring their Nissan Figaro and celebrate the cars’ 30th Birthday at this unique weekend of fun, friendship and frivolity in the Cotswolds!
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Attend on SUNDAY 27th JUNE 2021 for the main event which will include access to our Figaro Display Field, Vintage Village, participation in the mega convoy drive out, awards and more to come. Or if you are travelling a long way why not make a weekend of it? We have pre-reserved a number of rooms for the event so you can enjoy the luxury of Walton Hall Hotel & Spa.
£25 per Entry Fee Per Car
Our plan for the day is to create a ‘festival feel’ where members come together to share the love they have for their Figaros, and enjoy a Festival type atmosphere.
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Our son Daniel had always wanted a Figaro having seen the car at his local garage when he was just 16. After saving for a number of years (plus a small contribution from his mum and dad!) he at last brought an emerald green model in May 2008.
Following the purchase we searched on the internet for a club in the hope we could attend events and meet other owners. We were amazed that at that time no club existed so the Figaro Owners Club was born!
We decided to build a basic website and forum which took a few months and on the 1st March 2009 we pressed the publish button and waited to see if anyone wanted to join? Within a week we had 10 members, a month 35 and a year 478!
Today the club has around 1,300 members worldwide in countries including New Zealand, Japan, Australia, USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden and many more.
Kevin & Sue
Figaro Owners Club Founder
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58 Earl Howe Road, Holmer Green,
High Wycombe, Bucks, HP15 6QT
United Kingdom
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