(first posted at CC on 4/2/2015) Oregonians have long treasured the random little collectable objects that Japan’s artisans inadvertently send our way. Usually that takes the form of beautiful hand-blown glass fishing floats that spend years or decades bobbing in the Pacific before a storm washes them on our shores. But occasionally another form of distinctly Japanese objet d’art finds its way ashore, like this Nissan Pao.
Stephanie and I were driving down Oak Street, when I had a split-second glimpse of its grille sitting up on the upper level of a parking ramp. Holy Kapao! popped out of my mouth, as I instantly pulled a rude maneuver to get into the parking ramp. What the hell is that doing in Eugene!? Stephanie asked me how I could have possibly seen it up there while driving. Don’t ask.
When we found it hiding tucked up close to a stairway shaft, Stephanie had a palpable hormono-vascular reaction. Like most Americans, she had no clue of the Pao’s existence. Now she would have settled for a new Mini in a pinch, but, prior to seeing the Poa, a Mini Traveller is what she really wanted. But the one is too common (and overpriced), the other too impractical. The Pao is the proverbial missing link.
Well, didn’t I feel full of myself telling her all about the Pao, how I’ve always had a soft spot for it, and how it started the whole Japanese retro fad that raged for a few years there, thanks to Nissan’s indulgence. The Pike Factory was set up to be a limited production facility geared to small batches, the goal not being profits, but image enhancement for Nissan, which frankly needed it back then.
The lowly and boxy Nissan Micra K10 was drafted to be the donor platform for the Pike Factory specials, and the Pao was its first radical makeover. Premiering at the Tokyo show in 1987, the Pao is a rolling pastiche of retro cues gathered and rearranged from around the globe: mostly original Mini, but also pieces of 2CV, Beetle, Mehari, Mini-Moke, and Austin 1100; am I forgetting somebody? It was followed shortly by the much less creative Be-1, and then by the brilliant little Figaro. The goofy S-Cargo rounded out the Pike family, before the Nissan fun-mobile exercise petered out.
The Pao’s production was purposely limited to 10k units for the Japanese domestic market only, and interested parties had to submit a reservation from January 15 through April 14, 1989; orders were served according to their date of placing. The new fashion darling sold out in three months and is still sought after. But the question as to whether the Pao is a worthy work of art or a flash in the pop-pan is as questionable as Wikipedia’s reliability. It claims that the Pao is on permanent display in the Museum of Modern Art in New York along with those other timeless automotive masterworks residing there: the 1946 Cisitalia 202 GT, a Willys Jeep, a ’59 Beetle and a ’63 XKE. But a search of MoMA’s press releases on the subject of Pao draws a big zero. Has anybody in NY seen it there?
Well, somebody in Eugene sure wanted it in their collection. Actually, it’s a daily driver, and it now spends its rainy days on a surface lot off Pearl Street, which made it possible to get some decent shots of it. It’s definitely a city car, what with all of 51 horsepower from the carbureted 987cc Micra engine. At least this one had the desirable five-speed stick; the three-speed automatic is best kept for Tokyo’s traffic jams.
At least those 51 ponies only have 1600 lbs to pull. The Pao is about the same size as the first generation neo-MINI, but its weight is a lot closer to the original Mini’s. And the Pao’s interior has it all over the MINI stylistically, if not in comfort and features. The round speedometer and authentic-looking retro flip-switches work; the current Mini arcade game IP is almost unbearable to look at.
Want one? There available through Japanese exporters; though they seem to go fairly quickly, with prices roughly in the $3 to $6k range. Stephanie did, badly, until the reality of right hand drive set in. Pass. Well, the Pao and Figaro are particularly popular in the UK for at least that one reason. For anyone with good taste wanting a true Mini successor, the new MINI doesn’t just doesn’t cut it. How much to convert one to left-hand drive?
Postscript: This was originally published at the other website in 2009. I saw it around for a few years, but it seems to have disappeared. Keep your eyes peeled.
Related reading: CC Nissan Figaro – More Anime Than Animal
Hmmm. Quite a few of these on the roads in Hong Kong; along with their other ‘cute’ japanese cousins. In ‘old timer parlance, these are hairdressers cars. Walk on.
In a related case, I backed my 1981 Landrover, airportable, 1/2 ton lightweight military spec daily driver into a Jimi Suziki jeep. They bounce well.
Pause for thought if you wish to survive an accident in one of these.
I think I might take my chances in a Pao rather than a military lightweight or any Series Land Rover.
Would you like a Land Rover by Minerva (Belgium) perhaps ?
delboy, is this the lightweight model you have?
I generally hate parody retro in car and house design, but I love this. Why? Not sure.
Seems like the designers weren’t asking the usual nasty question “How can we tack on some retro cues to spit in the face of civilization?” Instead they were asking “What could 1950 have done with modern materials and manufacturing techniques?” And the result is convincing.
Looks more 2CV than Mini to my eyes, but there’s clearly a lot of both, plus some refrigerators and stoves.
I think the appeal of the Pao (even compared to the Figaro, which is cuter) is that it really has a minimum of pretension. It does feel a bit like a giant version of a doll accessory, but it’s such a functional design that it largely avoids the trying-too-hard vibe a lot of retro cars end up with.
I think I saw this same one in Burbank years ago. If they’d sent it here I’d have one. The best “retro” concept out of all the PT Cruisers, Beetles and HHRs out there. And no frigging console eating up space. Rear windows on a two door that open. Simple dashboard. So anti-modern excess.
Too bad they didn’t keep the original Cube the way it was before they unleashed that silly thing we got in the States
Charming little car; it shouldn’t work, but for me it does. Alongside those influences mentioned, I can also see hints of Renault 4 in the styling. One thing though, didn’t the BE-1 precede the Pao? Both went on to be a huge inspiration for the style of the K11 Micra from 1992.
Certainly, I also see hints -concept wise- of the first gen Fiat Panda. Which was basically a modernized Citroën 2CV, just like the Renault 4.
How interesting! I honestly never knew about this car before.
These cars from the Pike family strike me as big “digital salutes” to those car designers who told us here in the U.S. how it was next to impossible to design fun and/or attractive small cars.
I’m not sure I’d want this as a daily driver without a significant upgrade to the engine. I have this odd quirk, I like to drive at highish speeds “occasionally”.
Then the upcoming Renault Twingo RS would be a perfect car for you. Rear engine, RWD and probably around 140 hp.
These seems SO cool. If only there were a way to disable the stability control without harming the warranty… oh what do I care, I live in Indiana!
Really love what Renault is doing; why can’t Nissan learn anything about cool small cars from them (since they’re so averse to making any of their own these days)?
I’ve been hoping for some years for a return to the US market by Renault, especially because they could be “twinned” with existing Nissan dealerships. Similar to some of the Mopar/Fiat arrangements.
I’ve long been a fan of the previous Twingos, and would have liked to have seen how some of the other Renault models would have fared in our market.
We’ll probably get a Dacia before a Renault here.
Essentially the Renault Twingo is the same car as a Smart ForFour. The 3 cylinder engines, both naturally aspirated and turbo charged, come from Renault~Nissan.
So who knows…a Smart ForFour AMG in the US.
Renault~Nissan~Infiniti and Mercedes work together these days. An Infiniti with a Mercedes diesel and a Mercedes with a Renault diesel, for example. Co-developing the Twingo and Smart is another one.
> designers who told us here in the U.S. how it was next to impossible to design fun and/or attractive small cars.
That’s not really fair. Detroit has had its share of good-looking small cars, starting with both generations of Corvairs. It’s hard to be more fun & attractive than the PT Cruiser (all the way down to the cue-ball shift knob). The HHR may not have been as attractive, it you can’t deny it’s fun.
Some others that come to mind: There were a lot of problems with the Vega, but styling wasn’t one of them (at least until they put 5-mph bumpers on it). Ford’s New Edge design looked very sharp on the first-generation Focus. And the first-generation Neon is at least as attractive as its contemporaries from Europe or Japan (on the outside, anyway — I don’t remember what the interiors looked like). The first-generation Fiero looked great, too.
What am I overlooking?
…
The poor Pacer. Still a punch line after all these years.
The longer I get in the tooth, the better looking I think it is.
Low beltline, lots of glass, acres of hip and shoulder room. The Pacer did have its virtues.
Inspiration for Porsche 928
….
hehehe
What I see is the 2015 Crosley. Boy, Japan’s safeth regulations must be pretty minimal, or is that just for the kei class?
I like this. Just the thing for a city or small town runabout. I would drive this.
With a 987cc engine, this wouldn’t have been a Kei car.
That steering wheel definitely doesn’t have an air bag in it, and if the entire car is 1,600 lbs, I’ll bet those doors are only a couple of inches thick.
Cute little deathtrap, but definitely a deathtrap on most U.S. roads.
It’s not that small. It’s about the size of a BMW Mini, of the first generation, but it looks roomier than that due to its boxier design. Roughly comparable to an early Civic.
Kei cars are distinctive because they have to be very narrow. Which means they’re usually also quite tall, with some exceptions.
It’s a B-segment car, based on the Micra (sold in Canada) as Paul mentioned. Think Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift sized.
I find this car very appealing, it reminds me of a modernized Renault 4.
Definitely not MoMA standard, but it is a neat little design. The overall shape is well proportioned and it’s the exposed hinges, side-ribbing and other ‘utilitarian’ cues that give it most of its personality. The others from this range were also well-conceived, I like the relatively bland Be-1 more than the Figaro and S-Cargo but I can see the appeal of all of them. Of course, when things aren’t done with the same level of consideration…
Ugh. I clearly don’t understand the Japanese fetish for retro styled cars like this. Too cute, too saccharine for me. And this comment coming from someone who could see themselves in a Fiat 500.
I have to laugh, about the same time Nissan was producing this, the Yugo was still on sale, had Bricklin or his successors marketed the Yugo differently, they could have hopped on the retro train to success, too…
The Figaro and the S-Cargo are popular in London, and see them all the time. The S-Cargo looks like a generic modern electric van to me.
The Pao, on the other hand, I’d never seen or known about until reading this article, so big thumbs up to Paul for the article 🙂
I knew someone who had a 987cc K10 Micra a few years ago. OK-ish around town, Horrid outside of it. Makes me wonder what that car and engine were like with a three-speed torque converter slushmatic………..
Nice ! .
I’d love to try driving one of these although I have many miles in RHD cars already and don’t much like it .
In the mid 1990’s a light blue Pao showed up street parked on Sherman Way in North Hollywood across from a junkyard .
It was pretty clean , only a few scrapes on it , the Junk Man told me he’d bought it from a tow yard after it was impounded , the engine had failed .
He didn’t want to sell it sad to say and bought a used Japanese takeout engine and got it running again , I see it parked there occasionally for the next few years .
As mentioned , it’s an honest design , not cutsey-poo like most ‘ retro ‘ crap is .
-Nate
Man, this is almost an “impulse buy” item! Wonder if a 1.9m tall guy would even fit?
There’s one for sale on E-bay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nissan-Other-Pao-/251901084995?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3aa6798543&item=251901084995
Yeah, and he’s asking $13,950.00 and talking about its “investment” qualities.
Dream on.
Makes you wonder why he just doesn’t go the Barret-Jackson route, other than risking the market telling him what that car is really worth.
Don’t forget : it must be bad as he mentions rust and NO ONE EVER admits to rust in a Collector Car .
-Nate
I’m glad to learn I’m not the only one who hates the IP in the BMW Minis. It’s like a fever dream of every possible retro cliché, rendered in ugly, glossy acrylic.
Much more interesting than a japanese fishing float. I don’t recall ever seeing one of these. I think a tour of Eugene or Oregon in general could prove to be very interesting.
I really like these little guys. Retro, but honest retro somehow. Quite appealing, and the color palette makes them even more so. And while they do look like deathtraps on the highway, one would make a great around-town runabout. Getting used to parallel parking an RHD vehicle might take some doing though!
I actually like the Be-1 also. Not as well-executed as the Pao, but it does remind me of late 70’s design somehow, infused with a late 80’s sensibility (which is of course its actual time). A different kind of charm. And the Figaro is a little masterpiece.
If this story is from 2009, I wonder how the owner got it imported before it turned 25?
What are those outside mounted bars across the rear side windows on the Pao? Wouldn`t mind having one, kinda cool in a utilitarian way.
I assume it’s the same feature the Citroën 2CV also had.
2CV’s were quirky but pretty good little cars ~
I had an AZ model with the 425 C.C. engine and centrifugal clutch , it went O.K. on the freeway and rode nice & smoothly .
-Nate
The Citroën 2CV and Citroën HY van were also the ultimate hippy-vehicles. Like the Beetle and VW bus in the US, I guess.
C5Karl:
If you consider a Corvair a small car, then remember that car’s contemporaries: Valiant, with it’s “toilet seat” trunk lid and the very boxy Falcon. Yes, folks bought these cars, but their styling was a number 1 selling point/attraction.
10 years after the Corvair’s debut we got the Vega. Yes the Vega looked like a shrunken Camaro, except inside where NON GT Vegas looked like shrunken Impalas. The Pinto? The Gremlin?
I don’t know which stylist at which “Big 3” company said it, but at least 1 very famous designer said styling a small car was like trying to tailor a tuxedo for a dwarf. Or, we can made good looking big cars but scaling down to smaller sizes….the results aren’t as pleasant. That is, if your point of reference is solidly attached to big cars.
*SO* true ! .
Back when Vegas were new , I mentioned to everyone who owned one ” It looks like a tiny Camaro ! ” thinking I was complimenting it .
NOT ONE ever accepted it looked _anything_ like a Camaro…..
Boy howdy did I piss folks off mentioning that obvious fact =8-) .
-Nate
Phil b.
It looks like those “bars” divide the 2 halves of the rear side windows, the upper half appears to fold down.
I owned a 1.2L K10 Micra for a while and it was perfectly capable around town. The engine was quite willing to be thrashed in fact. It was not great in cross winds on the highway however. The Pao might be slightly heavier and lose that zippy fun character but I’ll bet its ok as a city car.
I’ve always liked these and the Figaro which I think is super cool too.
Wonder how hard it would be to put a more powerful engine in it…
Not sure how this one was around in 2009 at only 20 years old but these and its contemporaries are going to start popping up more often since they just became 25 years old.
Oh Nissan, where has the magic gone??
In the blink of an eye a Suzuki can turn into a Nissan…Magic !
Pao. Right in the kisser.
Some thing honest and basic about this car I like. If only it had LHD, it would be perfect for around town.
It’s a shame Nissan didn’t keep the Pike factory going and shut down all their other plants. They could sure use the imagination and outside-the-box thinking the Pike guys managed.
Here in Australia you’d be forgiven for thinking they didn’t do cars any more. All the Nissans I see these days are SUVs – and they’re everywhere.
One of my buddies, who has a passion for odd little cars, just bought one of these, same color.
I’ve got one. Slow, draughty and noisy, and I love it. It’s the perfect antidote to modern motoring. BTW, the split in the rear windows allows the bottom section to hinge upwards. Not as high as those on the 2CV, which can open through 180deg. The Pao’s only open a couple of inches. On the subject of windows, check out those opening front quarterlights…
Recently featured on Regular Car Reviews on YouTube:
The Nissan Pao is great because it looks like it drove right out of a Hayao Miyazaki film.
I wonder why production was so limited and a larger version never made it over here?
Given the roaring successes of the miatas, new beetle, and pt cruiser, one would think some company would have watched and learnt and come up with a suitable for america version.
Supposably small cars don’t sell in america but dorky, cheap looking small cars don’t sell. An inexpensive, stylish, cute car like this would make a lot of people rethink a bigger and more expensive car.
I was living in Japan these came out and part of the reason they are cool is because they are limited editions.
There is no way any American would really want to own a kei jadosha, or light car. First of all, they are city only. Any trip on the highway is painful. The engine limit in Japan is 660 cc and that would have to be upped to at least one litre. Even then it would get heck of a hard sell. A kei will not pass our crash regulations. My Japanese friends all think kei jadosha are death traps on suited for slow speed shopping trips. This is what they are indeed designed.
While living in Yamanashi-ken, my work unit having being banished for “retraining” I got a free Suzuki Alto with one year sha-ken left. It had all of 550 cc but it got me off the mountain on which we were banished, to go to the big city of Kofu-shi. I did have to pay for the inspection the next year and it didn’t need much so it was worth it. That little car had 150,000 km on it when I got it and not easy kms, either. Being a Suzuki it was tough as nails and nothing broke. To get any speed out if it you really needed to thrash the thing. It barely got past 80 km/h but it was enough for rural Japan.
These are not kei cars. They’re a full step (or two) larger. It’s based on the Nissan March/Micra.I’m pretty sure the Micra was sold in Canada. It’s the same size as the Toyota Yaris/Echo, quite popular in the US. These were available with engines up to 1.5/1.6L.
I stand corrected. That said, even in Canada the cheap little car is almost dead. Not likely any manufacturer is going to want to market one. The only cheap little car we have left is the Chevrolet Spark but I don’t see many on the roads.
“I wonder why production was so limited and a larger version never made it over here?”
These, along with the Be-1, S-Cargo, and Figaro were all Nissan PIKE factory special builds, and were driven completely as a marketing image booster during the last years of the bubble economy before it burst. They weren’t really marketed as Nissans either; you had to reserve a lottery deposit and then hope you got a car, and that was true of all the PIKE cars. If I remember correctly the Figaro in particular sold out it’s entire run of deposits in less than 3 months, forcing an additional run of cars because demand was so strong. Young wealthy women were the main demographic these targeted; the Skyline GT-R was racking up plenty of street credit for the gear heads at the time.
I really like this car.
Such a happy little thing, inside and out.
Wouldn’t be practical on my commute to work on the bombed-out dystopian roads with all the Pickup-Truck-Race-Cars. Would be a lot of fun for a weekend country-cruise though. Right-hand drive would take some getting used to, but the mail carriers do it, right?
Ive seen one of these Pao yet Figaros and S cargos are quite common, I guess if they are still in demand in Japan foreign buyers dont get a look in,
Well, I like it—a lot. When is someone going to mention the enlarged front wheel arch profile ? Do we take this as a VERY rare styling nod to FWD ?
Found one in my dad’s backyard in March, 2019. The person who was doing some body work on my dad’s Honda Odyssey left it behind for the day. It was RHD. Atlanta, GA
again
Another view
I feel like every Pao I have seen in Japan is that same color. There is one parked at the door of a funky restaurant in Kyoto right around the corner from where I always stay and its clearly never driven at this point. Also, “pao” means “yurt” in Japanese so I wonder if that meaning is connected to the name? Probably not. I think the other Japanese car that comes closest to this one in styling is the Daihatsu Naked. If you can stop laughing at the name you will see a similar restrained, retro, and no frills style that I find, like the Pao, very likable. I was loaned a Naked while working in the mountains of Nagano and it was great fun. I even took a long highway trip to Gifu, several hours at 100 kph, and it performed great. I told the owner when I returned it to hang onto it and maybe I’d buy it off of him. He looked at me funny, since in Japan kei cars are basically considered disposable transportation.
This whole Japanese kei car thing has me a bit baffled. How do they legally address the crash safety of a Kei car versus non-kei car. They are made for city use but I don’t think they are prohibited from the highway. Are they classified as motorcycles like all three wheeled vehicles are in the US?