Retro is in. But then it’s always been in. Back in the ‘30s, Ettore Bugatti styled his cars with hints of the horse-drawn buggies of his turn-of-century youth. In the ‘60s, Virgil Exner reinstated stand-alone grilles and opera windows harking back to the Hoover administration. But the third wave of neo-classicism, which was now looking back to the ‘50s, came from Japan. More precisely, from the Nissan “Pike cars” of the late ‘80s, the first of which was the BE-1.
In the early ‘80s, Nissan saw a double threat to their new K10 March city car. One was one of the imports that was making a killing in Japan, the evergreen Mini. The other, the Honda City, was also round-eyed and cute – everything the March was not. An internal design competition was organized to devise a March-based rival to Honda and Austin, taking in a number of styling cues from both. Designer Naoki Sakai, author of proposal B1, won the competition. Having perhaps exhausted their inspiration, Nissan went ahead and called it Be-1.
A prototype was showcased at the 1985 Tokyo Motor Show to tremendous general approval, but now Nissan had to decide how to play their hand. The company had virtually no capacity to build the Be-1 and it would require a lot of man-hours, given its somewhat novel construction. Certain body panels, notably the front and rear valence, were to be made of a new type of pebble-resistant thermoplastic resin, developed in collaboration with General Electric. ABS resin was used for the C-pillar, while the hood and doors were made of durasteel.
This all called for a lot of care in terms of manufacturing, assembly and especially painting. The Be-1 would thus be offered in four colours – Tomato Red, Pumpkin Yellow, Onion White and the very fetching Hydrangea Blue seen on our feature car – made from high heat-treated special paint that was said to be very resistant to fade. Judging by this car and the handful I’ve seen, the reality lived up to the hype on that score.
Production was therefore limited and outsourced to Takada Kogyo, a company that up to then had mainly provided Nissan with parts, truck cabs and body panels. The Be-1 had to be partially hand-built, but Takada did an excellent job of it and became a regular partner for small production runs, including for upcoming Pike cars such as the Figaro.
All this care and innovation did not extend to the running gear, which was your bog-standard Nissan K10 March, complete with its modest 52hp 987cc 4-cyl. (with either a 5-speed manual of a 3-speed auto), but this was not at issue. In fact, the reassuringly capable mechanicals worked in the Be-1’s favour, keeping the focus on the car’s novel and distinctive styling.
Initially, Nissan hoped to produce a limited run of 3000 cars, but when sales actually began in January 1987, the company quickly realized that this would not be sufficient. Nissan resorted to a lottery system to allocate the cars fairly. Takada ended up making 10,000 units by December 1987, yet this failed to quench the public’s thirst for the little Be-1. But Nissan were ready to move on to other retro designs, such as the equally successful Pao.
With such a small production run, it’s no surprise that the Be-1 is now the rarest of the early Pike cars, along with the S-Cargo van. Subsequent neo-retro efforts were not all as graceful and restrained at the Be-1, to say the least. The lack of garish brightwork on these is particularly notable, yet the ‘50s/’60s feel is unmistakable. They really don’t make retro like they used to.
One of my favorite Japanese cars in the best color and in excellent condition (as per usual with your finds). Somewhat baffling to me has always been the fact that this design wasn’t simply the regular March/Micra from the beginning. Retro-ish it may be but nowhere near the extent of the rest of the Pike cars which I’d personally rank as this, then the Pao, then Figaro, then SCargo as far as my preference is concerned, not that I’d turn down any of them should one fall into my lap. But this one’s my fave.
I loved this piece and reading about the BE-1, a car I remember having been featured in a national nightly news segment when these were new. And now I know about the actual car and why it was so special. Still looks cool in 2023.
A beautiful car, new or retro .
I like the color a lot, I hope someone will post up a pic of a tomato red one too for comparison .
-Nate
This is my favourite of the pike cars, sadly very rare in the UK, having yet to have seen one in the metal, the Figaro being most common, then the Pao and finally the S-cargo .. which was actually the first of these I ever saw, as a photographer had one as a van in my home town, back in the mid 90s, must have been a very early import that one.
I do wonder if the designer of the 90s fiat bravo/bravo took inspiration from the Be-1 particularly the rear lights (those cars themselves being a rare sight on these shores now…)
Cute in it’s own way. I agree with the other comments that the color is nice. Kind of looks like something you would see the Pope riding in.
The youngest Figaro is now 22 years old, yet despite never been sold officially in the UK, remain a common sight. Never seen one less than pristine. Unfortunately, the cars have become collateral damage with ULEZ as they seem clobbered with the charge.
Put a smile on my face as soon as I saw it. First post to read today!
I think this is my favourite of those magnificent Pike cars. The S-Cargo seems to be the most popular one to import here, to the point where my daughter groans (“There’s another one of those silly…”) when she sees one. I have never seen a Be-1 in the metal/plastic down here, though I know there are Figaros around.
Hasn’t Nissan fallen a long way from these glory days?
Wish this had go the “USA market”!Like the yellow in in the “ad”.
I remember the original advertising tag line was “Emotional Liter Car”