Figgy production numbers and colours. Why so many Topaz Mist haters?

Let’s talk about Nissan Figaro productions number and colors.

The VIN for my Figgy is FK10-019947.   Hmmm…  That’s weird.  Why is it only ten digits when the international standard for automotive VINs has been 17 digits for the last 60 or so years?  Simple.  Because this car was not made for export, which means Nippon could pretty much do what they wanted.

As you can guess this was a headache for the DOL when I registered the car.  And when trying to find parts at the local parts store and they ask for a VIN, 10 digits literally blows the mind of the parts desk people, and they collapse with a nosebleed.  But there is reason to the madness.

F stands for Figaro, K10 stands for the Nissan March (Micra outside of Japan). The K is the platform/generation of that particular vehicle, with the 10 meaning 1.0 engine.  And the rest is just the consecutive vehicle numbers.  Pretty simple.  So clearly they never made more than 999,999 of any specific JDM vehicle.  It would be silly to start with 000001, so VINs ran from  FK10-000051 (First) -FK10-020123 (Last), making for a 20,073 total production run.   

Remember originally Nissan only planned on making 8,000 of these in the limited one-year run. You heard me mention in other posts that the demand was unprecedented. Something like over 200,000 pre-orders so it had to be turned into a lottery system.  They decided to bump up total production to the 20k threshold, but no more.  This not only was planned as a one-year run, but the contract with Taka Kagyu (the Pike Factory) required the last vehicle to roll out of the factory by the end of December 1991.   My Figaro was one of the last out at number 0019947. The very tail end of the one-year run.

Monthly production breakdown:

1991 February – 1,622

1991 March – 2,037

1991 April – 1,905

1991 May – 1,940

1991 June – 1,940

1991 July – 2,211

1991 August – 1,599

1991 September – 2,030

1991 October – 2,079

1991 November – 2,142 + 3

1991 December – 568 + 3

Total 20,073

Now let’s talk about colors.  There were only four factory colors to choose from, all of them picked to compliment the shape, feel, and retro-future theme of the car.  And all very pastel to the point they look almost cartoon-like.  In true Japanese style, there was also a theme.  Each color represented a season of the year.  And all of them are kinda girly.  Of course, I read that over half of the design team was female on this project, which is quite rare in the Japanese business world let alone the global automotive industry.

Representing spring was Emerald Green. I’ve seen this in person and it is a color that will burn the cones and rods out of your eyes. Straight out of a Doctor Seuss book. Provided that Dr. Seuss was on acid. A very very vibrant color. And I’m very very glad I don’t have it. Judge for yourself.

Next comes summertime with Aqua Blue. This was kind of a robin egg blue color. Again pastel and very vibrant. Has a real 1950s vibe to it that totally fits the art deco retro motif of the car.  Reminds me of some of the old Fords and Chevys of that decade before the 1960s came in with all the reds and blacks and racing green colors. On the whole not that bad, and palatable if you don’t have a choice.

Then comes autumn. They called this color Topaz Mist. Well, this was the turd in the proverbial Punchbowl. Not only because it looked like one, but because nobody wanted it (as you’ll see from the numbers below). I don’t think it’s that horrible, especially with the white top and chrome accents that the Figaro sports.  If you got one with the optional brown leather-wrapped steering wheel and other matching leather trim, it comes off looking like a 1960s English roadster with a dash of Jaguar (small dash).  But at the end of the day, it still looks like a retro washing machine or Kitchen Aide Mixer color, and nobody wanted it (unless you ‘won’ the lottery and got stuck with one of the first 2k).

Finally, there is wintertime. This color was known as Lapis Grey and I love it. And I was fortunate enough to get one. Not quite grey and not quite blue, the white top and pillars make the color pop.  I was not alone in my thinking. This was the most common color sold and the one you will most likely ever see if you come across a Figaro in the wild or at a car show.

Here are production numbers by color.  Remember, the first 8k were 2k of each color.  After that lottery ‘winners’ got to choose their color with their pre-order.   Note that Winter was x4 the originally planned prod number, Summer x3, Spring x2, and good old Fall only +279 units.  Sure, it’s the rarest color.  But sometimes rare does not equate to more valuable.

Lapis Grey (7K0) – 8,156

Emerald Green (6K8) – 5,632

Pale Aqua (6K9) – 3,989

Topaz Mist (7K1) – 2,279

Unknown Color  (7K3) –  1

Unknown Color  (7K2) –  1

Unknown 15

Total 20,073

If you see any other color on a Figaro, odds are 95% that it was imported from the UK.    Remember, they got these cars 10 years before the US and they were (and still are) a HUGE cult hit.   The Brits use the word ‘bespoke’ for anything custom on a car or not stock.  The bespoke colors for these cars are endless. From pink, black, green, orange, you name it.  They also love aftermarket wheels, all kinds of striping, adding chrome bits, and endless knickknacks and knobs for the interior. 

I like these cars in the original colors.   In the States people rarely have them painted or customized.  They are so rare they are like driving a unique and one-of-a-kind custom vehicle anyway.  To be honest those four mostly feminine pastels just really seem to fit the car. The color was integrated into the design concept as a whole which is why the car carries it off so well.

Around 2017 or so, the number of Nissan Figaro registered and legally on the road in the UK was well over 5,000 (a whopping 1/4 of the total production of 30 years ago).  This number has steadily declined as more of them succumb to rust, weather, and just mechanical wear and tear.   These cars were only designed to last 6-8 years in the JDM market.   As that numbers drop off a couple hundred a year in the UK, the remaining examples that have been scattered to the wind around the world are also declining accordingly. 

So how many Figgys are left out there buzzing around making people smile?  I’ve seen estimates from 3500 to  6000 running examples worldwide.  Not bad for a little concept car that at any other time in Japanese automotive history would not have been built.  When I stop for gas and someone asks me if the Figaro is rare, I normally say sort of.  It was a 20k run after all.  Now I can only sadly nod my head and have to say ‘yes’.  

But the glass is half full.  Knowing how rare that little rolling pregnant jelly bean of a car is makes me smile more every time I see it and just makes me want to share it with more and more people. Before they are all gone. 🙂