Produced by Pike: 1990 Nissan Pao
It isn’t often that you see a Nissan offered for sale across the street from Honda’s North American headquarters. Don’t recognize that spot… it’s okay, I’ll explain — that bridge is the railroad crossing bridge just southeast of the American Honda Motor Co HQ in Torrance, California. I know the spot well; I’ve driven by it a thousand times, but this Nissan Pao I haven’t seen. The Pao was part of Nissan’s Pike (don’t ask me why they were called Pike) car series that included the Pao, S-Cargo, Figaro, Be-1, and K10-Micra. Goofy names aside, the Pike cars were retro-styled econoboxes from the late ’80s and early ’90s that combined simple Nissan mechanical front-drive parts with funky styling and cool interiors. It might not be related to Honda, but Nissan, Toyota, and Honda all had their tech centers and HQs in Torrance until the inevitable Californiaflation drove them all out of California to cheaper states like Tennessee and South Carolina (except Honda, which somehow survives despite $7/gallon gas and bureaucratic red tape that would make a North Korean Politburo agent giddy with delight). Anyway. Find this 1990 Nissan Pao offered for $10,000 in Torrance, CA via facepao nissanbook.
From the seller:
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1990 Nissan pao
$10,000
Listed 5 weeks ago in Torrance, CA
About this vehicle
Driven 83,487 miles
Automatic transmission
Exterior color: Tan · Interior color: Tan
Fuel type: Gasoline
Very good condition
Clean title
This vehicle has no significant damage or problems.Seller’s description
1990 Nissan PAO imported from Japan. Car is in Torrance, California 90501. Title in hand. 1.0L Engine. 134360km (83487miles) Please DM us if you interested. Montana state title in hand. Registering in California maybe still hard and costly even with the title from another state
See a better way to drive something paoerful? tips@dailyturismo.com
I was walking the dogs over the weekend and spied a PAO parked a few blocks away.
Here’s one of the OG brochures –
https://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/139692/car/61409/182624/photo.aspx
We’re selling a majority of our toys to escape to the Netherlands in October. Gone is the ’93 300zx, the ’63 Beetle and soon the Abarth and the Pao. The Pao will be the most dearly missed. No car I’ve owned has garnered more enthusiastic interest among the rainbow of humanity.
Ours has half the mileage of this one + the coveted / mandatory 5-speed transmission. It also has ice cold a/c and the stock quirky faux-vintage cassette player. A friend has been nettling us to buy it for years, so it’s his. It’s the best husband-wife car imaginable for anyone looking for a shared adventure.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLpM2OHMo4_/?img_index=1
They’re called “Pike cars” because they were manufactured at Nissan’s Pike Factory, a sort of special-projects skunkworks for small-production niche models like these. Other Pike cars during this era were the Be-1, S-Cargo, Figaro, and finally the Rasheen.
There’s a cheap BE-1 in Olympia at the moment if anyone is lookin’ – https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/olympia-1987-nissan-be-rhd-jdm/oBNEaxswr9MDgez33HNixQ
$4500 is a stellar deal. For those not in the know, the BE-1 has the exact same Nissan Micra chassis as the Pao. The three speed automatic really saps the fun though and makes highway driving unpleasant at best.