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You may have spotted this strange little car around the roads of Cardiff in recent months. The pale blue colouring and round headlights suggest it's perhaps from the early 1960s. Its cute, but utilitarian looks could be French - a Renault or Citroen perhaps?
PAO WOW!
Is it stylish enough to be Italian? A bigger brother to the iconic Fiat 500, maybe? Or is it from further east? Some kind of Trabant or other Eastern Bloc rarity?
But, hang on - it's right-hand-drive! Is it from India, or a home-built kit car of some kind?
The answers are all no. The badge on the car says 'Pao produced by Pike factory.' Even most car buffs would be none the wiser, so let's explain. This is actually a Japanese car, made by Nissan as recently as 1989.
Nissan's Pike factory offshoot also produced the more popular (or common) Figaro - a little sports car which looks like the kind of car Audrey Hepburn would have driven around the south of France. Both the Pao (pronounced 'Pow') and the Figaro were based on the Nissan Micra of the time, and were only produced in small numbers for a limited period as retrostyle city cars.
They were never sold in the UK, but perhaps a few hundred Paos (and many more Figaros) have found their way to these shores as private imports. There are now reckoned to be fewer than 100 Paos in Britain, and this example was acquired by Cardiff enthusiast Andrew Weltch last year.
"I picked it up on eBay for a good price," he explained. "It does need some tidying up, but has been reliable so far - and is a great conversation piece." Returning from a trip to Devon a few months ago, the M5 was closed and he found himself in nose-to-tail traffic on side roads. "I was behind the wheel non-stop for almost seven hours," he said. "The car coped fine. I just wished there was a bit more padding in the seat!"
Weltch, who runs the Cardiff-based communications consultancy Weltch Media, also sees some commercial potential. "I'm hoping we can use it to promote our business or clients' businesses - it certainly inspires comments when I pull into a client's car park."
The car, which despite its primitive appearance is equipped with power steering and air conditioning, is likely to be seen at a few car shows in south Wales this summer. It may also be part of a record attempt for the most Paos ever gathered together in the UK. At present, the record stands at just three, so with four or five due at Fig10 - a gathering of Pike series cars in Warwick in the summer - a new record is on the cards.
The stunning photographs were taken in and around Cardiff by LifeFirst Photography, Rhiwbina, Cardiff.
Telephone 029 20611333 www.life-first.com
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