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We were intrigued by a owner joining the Register from Karachi and asked him to fill us in on the Figaro scene out there. Here is his reply:-
I consider myself lucky to own a Figaro, and since you mentioned adding it as a news feature on the site, allow me to tell you how I came across owning it. I came across the Figaro as a 'for sale' item at a used car showroom while driving back home from work. My wife and I stopped to have a look at the car, but found out that the showroom was closed for the day and could only peek! The conversation between my wife and I turned into bets about the price of the car, and we ended with a bet to buy the car if it was within a certain price limit.The next day, I left work early and went to the showroom to check out the car and found out the price to be way above the bet limit.....However, since I had already fallen in love with the car, I was able to bargain with the dealer and ultimately ended up paying the deposit amount for the purchase. The difficult part now was arranging the money, since I had not considered my bank account, but was only interested in acquiring the beauty. Thankfully, friends and family pitched in and she was home within a week of paying the deposit... (by law, it was impossible to obtain a loan for the purchase of an old, one off car)I have had the Figaro for a mere 2 years now, but have participated in classic cars shows ever since, and the car has also been featured on media...According to the last effort I made to find other Figaros in the country, there are 5 Figaros in Pakistan, 4 of which are in Karachi. I have not been able to contact the owners yet. Unfortunately however, only 2 of them are operational (including mine). The other operational Figaro was imported from Japan by an enthusiast who first offered to buy it off me and upon my refusal, he imported it (by law, any imported car beyond 2 yrs of manufacture is not allowed and a hefty penalty and special permission is required for it). I guess he was too much in love with the car to have afforded to go through the red-tape.I am a hardcore fan of classic cars and as well as the Figaro own a 1952 Morris Minor Split Screen (1 of 2 surviving in Pakistan), 1974 Toyota Trueno (considered a classic due to the scarce number surviving around the globe). I am a member of the Vintage Cars Club of Pakistan -
VCCCP website - which boasts some amazing collection of classic cars. Attached are some of the pics of my Figaro from the last year's classic car show organized by our club.Looking forward to interacting with other Figaro owners. Regards,Farrukh Ahmed
posted by David, Mr Fig08 on Tuesday, January 20, 2009