1995 Nissan S14 Silvia - Even Better Than The Real Thing

Shutterbug Wes at his day job.

You’d smile like Ricky Chu if you had an SR20DET, too.

When Eddie Murphy was a kid—right around the same time he was chasing the ice cream man down the block—his mother swore she could make a hamburger that was better than what he’d find at McDonald’s. Apparently, she lied. Murphy was less than fooled by his mother’s version of a Big Mac. Luckily for us here in the U.S., where there is limited access to many delectable Japanese morsels such as the Nissan Silvia, there are people who have the ability to build very convincing replicas of the Silvia S14. Ricky Chu is one of those people. He took his ’95 240SX and transformed it into this shining example of an all-around great drift car: the S14 Silvia.

In creating the state-side Silvia, Ricky had the advantage of working at renowned tuning shop V-Spec, so those hard-to-come-by Japanese Silvia parts were a little more within his reach than they might be for most. It’s a wee bit easier to special-order parts from Japan when you’ve got the V-Spec name at the top of your order form. All those HKS goodies you’ll find in the Fast Facts box, along with the SR20DET motor, made their way into the 240 at V-Spec with the help of Andy Yu, William Law, and Ricky, as did the RS*R and GAB suspension parts, the East Bear pillow mounts, the ACT clutch, the Nismo one-way limited slip, and the Pilot S14 front strut brace. Ricky estimates that the Silvia puts out 310 hp at 7,800 rpm at the rear wheels. We don’t doubt him.

In the pursuit of a well-rounded ride, Ricky turned his attention to the aesthetics of his American drift car and called upon the talents of PJ Bonifacio for the paintwork, Sunny Styling for the bodywork, and TG Race Designs for the graphics. Inside the car, E&J Upholstery covered the seats in blue and white vinyl and matched the door panels, too. There’s also the added touches of the Japanese-spec Silvia gauge cluster, the four-point safety harness, and the carbon-fiber dash trim to pull everything together.

After an unfortunate front-end collision on the way to Import Showoff in Del Mar, California, Ricky decided that the car needed a complete makeover, so he converted the front end to ’98 headlights, hood, and fenders. But authenticity was important to Ricky, as well. That’s a Silvia bumper and grille straight from Japan you see up front. And the Edge body kit adorning the Silvia née 240SX also came right off the plane from Japan.

Something Ricky learned from building the ultimate drift car is that there aren’t many companies that make parts for Nissans, but when you do find them, you have to sell your first born to buy them. He suggests being patient in your search and directing the money you spend in the right places. Ricky went directly to the Japanese parts route and did a lot of the work himself, with the help of mechanic friends. It paid off, too. After a two-year buildup, Ricky now owns a fine example of one of Japan’s ultimate drift cars. And we got a kick-ass as-close-as-you-can-get-to-the-real-thing Japanese drift cover car out of it.