A two-door SUV? What a concept. Several manufacturers made two-door SUVs but I can’t think of too many who still do today, they seem to have gone the way of manual transmissions. This great-looking 1988 Nissan Pathfinder is indeed a two-door model as they all were until 1990. Our own Jeff Lavery showed us one a few months ago and that looked like another winner. This example is listed on eBay in San Bernardino, California with a current bid price of $2,300 and there is no reserve! I hope I can make it through this one without bidding on it.

I have two “excuses” for not going after this one, even though it truly looks like a jewel of a one-owner rust-free Pathfinder: 1) it’s an automatic – and 2) it’s red. Almost any other color this side of lavender or chartreuse would work for me but I’m just not a red car guy. And, I know that an automatic transmission is what 95% of most buyers now want and buy, but give me a good manual transmission any day of the week. I don’t know if the Pathfinder had what us Subaru guys know as “hill-holder” (I know, it wasn’t invented by Subaru!) and vehicles creep right up behind you now at stop lights, even on steep hills, so maybe an automatic is the way to go these days. Unless a person can master the brake/clutch ballet while being on a steep hill with a car right behind you, or the emergency brake maneuver.

Now that we have the transmission sorted out let’s move on to the color, and red this one is. The seller says that the “original paint finish has a lovely shine and there are no dents anywhere whatsoever.” And, the “body, chassis and frame are completely rust free.” Ok, it’s growing on me. The Pathfinder along with its Hardbody brother/sister pickup the Nissan D21 models were quite a departure from the former 720 trucks from Datsun/Nissan. I have a friend who was a designer at Nissan for a decade and he said that the Hardbody trucks were really the first Nissan trucks to be designed, as in design-designed, as in that looks were important and were considered by the design team; at least in the modern era. The former trucks were pragmatic Japanese workhorse vehicles and not a lot of thought was given on how they looked. The Pathfinder was introduced in 1986 in only this two-door configuration which stayed until 1990 when another two doors were added to the mix.

Kudos to the seller for providing a wealth of great photos! That’s almost as rare as finding such a nice original vehicle as this Pathfinder. As with the exterior, the interior looks as close to being like new as it can get for a 30-year old vehicle. But, it isn’t even close to being new as it has almost 190,000 miles on it! I know, I would have guessed 50,000 maybe if that. Other than some wear on the driver’s side of the carpet I don’t see any glaring problems inside. The seller mentions a single crack in the dash but I don’t see it in the photos. The back seat looks brand new, maybe because it’s too hard to squeeze back there given its two-door layout. There’s a lot of room in the cargo area but no “valuables-hider” as most of us have become accustomed to.

This is Nissan’s 3.0L V6 that would have had around 145 hp. This engine is just about as clean as everything else is. Either this truck was really taken care of or the seller has a great detail crew; or both most likely. The AC even “blows strong cold air”. NADA lists a high retail value of $3,600 which seems light to me but we’ll see since there is no reserve. Have any of you owned a first-generation Nissan Pathfinder?