With certain people, its easy to remember when you first met them. It probably boils down to finding some common ground or interest that both of you have and really branching out from there.
I first met Josh at our trackday in Watergrasshill last year. He was one of the few people participating that I hadn’t met previously in some way and being an S-Schassis fan, my interests were instantly piqued when I saw his white 180sx.
We briefly chatted that morning about the excitement of the day and that it was his first trackday in the car, which he didn’t own that long at this point. It wasn’t until the end of that day that I really got the chat to him about the car.
You might notice the absence of an intercooler in this photoset and thats because this car runs an N/A Autech SR20DE from an S15. Now, for some people that may make this car less appealing, but for an equal amount of others, thats what makes this car so endearing.
I’m a big advocate for huge top mount setups, screamer pipes (not out the bonnet, stop doing that!) and massive amounts of boost. But equally, I love small wheels, ITBs and screaming NA engines. Theres a raw quality associated with that style that makes my hair stand on end.
Enter Josh and this car. Theres a simplicity hidden within this vibrant red 90s sports car and it adds to the ‘adjusted originality’ that I associate with this particular machine. It adds fizz and thats what I’m all about.
Myself and Josh have met a number of times since and we both share the love for the 180sx and a number of months ago he sent me a photo of his car minus most of its body panels looking somewhat worse for wear with a message that said he was changing things up and he was hoping to have the car ready for the BBQ in early August.
Queue messages for the next few weeks of late nights, lots of progress and a few other mishaps and the car just made it to south Kilkenny for our gathering last month.
With the hard work I knew Josh and his brother had been putting into the car I thought it would be cool to bring it to its own spot and capture some photos of it all by itself.
We were lucky enough with this spot as it wasn’t too busy and I wasn’t sure would the car make it here given some rough terrain on the road in. We left it a small bit too late to drive in terms of proper lighting but the golden hour effect is in full flow here which is a look I’ve been loving lately.
This car sports a genuine plastic Kouki body kit and the quality of the genuine item always shines through especially when a car has been freshly painted. The bonnet has a wonderful flake that runs through it which I wasn’t able to capture due to fading light conditions but theres a healthy pop of colour added to the front-end.
Josh had this cool Autech number plate with him as well which he forgot about until I was most of the way through this shoot and I just about managed to get all the angles covered before darkness descended upon what was a long but amazing day.
Big props to Josh for pushing hard and getting this car finished just to come down and chill out with us. If anything, hes probably given me a bit of a kick up the arse so I can park my shiny car next to his next year.
No Bad Vibes! 
Leave a Reply