One of our favorite cars from this year’s Tokyo Auto Salon was the Nissan 180SX from Pro Shop Wave. It’s been about 25 years since the Kanagawa drift specialists have displayed a car at the Auto Salon, but the RPS13 was like a time warp to that era. The shop’s signature look was famously cool in the 90s Kanagawa drifting scene, and the 180SX conjured its vibes ever so faithfully.
Pro Shop Wave created the aero parts that transform the 180SX into a throwback street slider, marketed under the B-Wave name. The car features a B-Wave Aero Master Series
front half-spoiler, side skirts and rear diffuser. A B-Wave Type 1 Kai exhaust clears the air for an HKS-intercooled SR20DET in place of the original CA18. Ultimately, though, it’s the trademark B-Wave light buckets and Wave Pane ducktail that complete the car’s distinctive 90s look. Naturally, the “Wave” logo across the front left corner of the hood is a must.
Old magazine clippings show the B-Wave mode, typically in vivid colors like purple and bright blue. Many of the parts installed on the Auto Salon car are new old stock parts, but Pro Shop Wave president Shoji Hasunuma says any of them are still available as built-to-order pieces (with the aero mirrors made available sometime in 2025).
We love how dedicated Pro Shop Wave is to the 90s. Even their website is seemingly stuck in the early days of the world wide web. Perhaps the only thing that indicates a modern build are the ultra-deep 15-inch Longchamp XR-4s, 9.5J in the front and 8.5J at the rear and stretched over 60-series Advan HF Type Ds. The wheels and re-released tires give the 180SX a hint of kyusha style popularized in recent years but rare in the days before social media.
Nevertheless, once glance at the 180SX and you’re transported back to a time when drift machines weren’t adorned by big sponsor logos. Drifting was barely known outside of Japan and was more about smoothness of motion rather than massive power and smoke shows. The 180SX evokes a moment in time just before the VIP vans and widebody kits took over the Auto Salon, and it was a pearl pink beacon amidst the modified Lambos.
Such poor fits on that car, and to have it displayed at a major auto show like that.
One can only ask why?.
I think that is part of the drift look patina,no? I thought the same.
it’s automotive impressionism, or perhaps even concept art.
I think it looks great, but the wheel fitment is odd. Normally on a rwd car the rear wheel should poke out more than fronts, but this 180sx seems to be setup up like a civic dragster.
You don’t know anything about early days of drifting and it shows.
That may be so, but even the old magazine shot of the 180sx shows the front wheel tucked more in compared to the new replica…