There was a time when an S13 was a consumable, like tyres or brake pads. You'd fold a guard on Saturday, bolt on a junkyard door in a different colour on Sunday, and go again.
Nobody cared, and that was the whole point. These cars were fun because you weren't scared of hurting them.
Now that same S13 can cost more than a new hatchback. Somewhere along the way the drift pig became the golden goose, and the fun got locked in a garage.
When Cars Were Consumables
Drifting grew out of 1980s mountain pass runs in Japan, with Keiichi Tsuchiya as its most famous face. D1 Grand Prix was formed in 2000, and Formula Drift ran its first season in the US in 2004.
The cars were whatever was cheap, light and rear-wheel drive. S13 and S14 Silvias, 180SXs, AE86s, A31 Cefiros, JZX100 Chasers and Mark IIs, R32 GTS-ts.
They were everywhere, and they shared parts. Nissan put the SR20DET in so many cars that engines were easy to find, and a bent car was just a donor for the next one.
Ebisu Circuit in Fukushima became the spiritual home. In 2016 a full day on every track there cost about $80, and the cars looked like extras from a Mad Max film. Rough, cheap and gloriously unprecious.
Four Figures Then, Five Figures Now
Then the prices started climbing, and they didn't stop.
- S13 240SX (US): a clean one was about $3,000 in the late 2000s. Today the average is around $15,600.
- S14 240SX (US): roughly $4,000 to $8,000 around 2008. Now about $20,500.
- AE86 (US): people were buying them for $2,000 to $2,500 around 2008. A rusty one made $40,000 at auction in 2021.
- JZX100 Tourer V (Japan): about ¥3.2 million new in the late 90s. The median asking price in Japan is now ¥4.28 million, more than it cost new.
- S15 200SX (Australia): A$11,500 to A$24,000 in 2018. Now valued around A$49,890.
In 2020 a largely stock "pignose" S13 sold for $32,750 online. That was the moment a lot of people realised the old days were gone.
Japan isn't cheap anymore
The old trick was to import a cheap one from Japan. That's over. In October 2026 the median asking price there was ¥3.70 million for an S13 and the same for a 180SX, about $24,700.
An AE86 Trueno asks ¥5.49 million. A JZX100 asks ¥4.28 million. A Japanese S13 now costs more than the US average before you've even shipped it.
The Drift Tax Gets a Name
By around 2008, forum threads were already complaining about the "drift tax." By 2012 people were calling it the "JDM tax."
It isn't really a tax, of course. It's what happens to the price of anything when supply is fixed and everyone suddenly wants one.
Drifting Ate Its Own Fleet
Here's the twist. Drifting itself created the shortage.
By 2019, more than half of all S13s and nearly two thirds of S14s being quoted for insurance were modified. For the older S12, which nobody drifted, it was fewer than one in five.
Every bent chassis, every cut-up rear end and every rusted-out shell was one less car on the planet. It got so bad that a factory in China now makes reproduction S-chassis shells.
Then demand landed on top of the shortage. The US 25-year rule let American buyers in, the Fast and Furious films made these cars famous, and the kids who grew up on Gran Turismo now had real money.
Now the Market Pays You Not to Drive
The old scene paid for modifications. Coilovers, wider wheels and a bigger turbo made a car worth more. Now the market pays for their absence.
Unmodified, well-kept cars carry a serious premium. A stock S13 is treated as a time capsule from before drifting used them all up.
At the very top of the collector world, the cars with the fewest miles get the biggest money. The whole system rewards a car that never moves.
The fear factor
Once a car is worth $40,000, one bad entry at a drift day costs a year's savings. Suddenly the car that was built to be thrown around is too nice to throw.
Insurance follows the value too. Owners need agreed-value cover, every modification has to be declared, and the policy starts to decide what you do with your own car.
Want to rent a drift car at Ebisu today? It costs ¥125,000 to ¥225,000 for a day. The place famous for throwaway cars now runs on visitors paying to borrow one.
Where the Fun Went
The culture didn't die. It moved down the price ladder.
Grassroots drift days are now full of BMW E36s and E46s, Nissan 350Zs, Lexus IS200s and IS300s, and Mazda MX-5s. In Australia it's old Holden Commodores and utes. In New Zealand you can still find drift-ready A31 Cefiros for NZ$4,000 to NZ$7,000.
But the drift tax follows. E36 and IS200 prices are already creeping up, and a drift-ready E46 now asks $5,000 to $8,000 in the US. In the UK, base E36s still sell for £1,000 to £2,500, for now.
Even at the pro level, Formula Drift grids now include Corvettes, Mustangs, BMWs and Toyota 86s. The S-chassis was still the most common platform across the big pro series in 2025, but it's no longer the only answer.
The Case for the Golden Goose
To be fair, high prices did something good. Drifting and rust were scrapping these cars anyway, and the money stopped the crusher.
The survivors are now being saved instead of torn up for parts. Reproduction shells mean even a crashed car can live again.
And the bigger threat to grassroots drifting may not be car prices at all. Tracks keep closing or banning drifting, and a cheap car is no good if there's nowhere to slide it.
Bring Back the Pig
The spirit of the drift missile is still out there. It just isn't wearing a Nissan badge anymore.
So find the car nobody wants yet, the one that's still cheap enough to bend. Buy it, cage it, and go sideways before the drift tax finds it too.
And if you're running a missile right now, put it on Drivesome. Mismatched panels very welcome.
