The Japanese just reign supreme when it comes to the modification of cars. The culture just seems to get it, whether its a crazy oni-kyan build or a tamed street car, the execution is always nothing less than flawless. There is a reason why we here in America pull so much inspiration from Japanese car culture, they seem to turn modifying cars into an art form. Motohiro Taniguchi is no stranger to creating automotive art, he is only the mastermind of one of my favorite Slivia’s, the “Odyvia” If you haven’t seen the car yet, I suggest you pay a visit to Google Images, you will not be sorry. When you combine a clean chassis like the 180SX with Motohiro’s ability to make custom body art, the end result is the beautiful red machine you’ll see in JC’s photoset.
No matter which angle you look at this 180 from it’ll put a smile on your face. The full Spirit Rei type Miyabi kit just looks amazing on the car. Motohiro is extremely talented and his designs are out of this world. Motohiro wanted to design a kit that enhanced the body lines of car without being too distracting. The front end of the kit adds just enough aggressiveness to the 180 without doing too much like most aero kits now a days. When paired with the Kamikaze front diffuser the once aged 180 now looks very modern. The rear bumper gives the back end a whole new look with the integrated carbon diffuser. The front fenders on the kit measure 40mm wider than the stock ones, while the rear overfenders measure 65mm wider.
Fitment wise, the Work Meister S1 3P wheels look right at home on the 180SX. It’s just such a classic wheel and extremely versatile. Motohiro went with the standard silver face color, matched with polished lips and hardware. The monochromic wheel coloring works with the overall simplicity of the car. For sizing, the front wheels measure in at 18 x 10 -3, while the rears are 18 x 11.5 -14. The specs are pretty much on the money here allowing the car to sit quite nicely.
The interior is pretty straight forward, as expected from a street car. The factory front seats were swapped out for a pair of BRIDE GIAS II seats, while the steering wheel was swapped out for nothing other than Nardi Deep Corn suede wheel. Small things like matching red stitching on the steering wheel and seats are extremely important to guys like Motohiro. True perfectionist.
When Motohiro first got his hands on this car it was in a pretty bad shape. Nearly destroyed actually, with quite a few panels being “burnt”. Luckily he was able to see beyond all the damage and create the Spirit-Rei 180 SX, which now joins the Odyvia as one of my favorite Silvia’s. The Spirit Rei 180 was built to be used as a demo car to display the kit Motohiro designed and he could not have done a better job. Enjoy rest of the photos by our good friend JC Pepino from Work Wheels Japan!
