Lexus LS400 Drift Car With Old-School 1951 Chevy Body Is a Smoke-Loving Hot Rod
There’s nothing better than watching a classic hunk of American metal drift through a corner with this kind of grace and ease.
This 1951 Chevrolet Styleline Deluxe almost looks like any other classic car out there. It sits a little lower, but has a cool patina'd body that wouldn't be out of place at any boomer-grade classic car meet. That is, until it gets very sideways. Underneath that classic metal is a Lexus LS400, and let me tell you: it rips.
This extremely unique drift car belongs to Yankiizoku member Jake Caldwell, who decided to swap out his LS400's body with that of a '51 Chevy. You can see how he did it in this Facebook album if you're curious, which shows the Lexus cut down to a floor, a trunk, and an engine bay.
Inside, the Styleline's dashboard fits unusually well, and a modern Bride racing seat went where you'd usually expect the Chevy's front bench to sit. The big hubcaps look like they're straight from a vintage drag build, and the shiny but patina'd exterior and old-school Yankiizoku lettering on the trunk really completes the look.
That being said, what's more important is how it runs, and this thing absolutely shreds. It makes all the wrong noises for a car of this era from its Lexus 1UZ-FE V8 and does an absurdly efficient job of turning its rear tires into smoke.
So, the next time you have a cool old car body slowly rusting its floor pans into the swamp, why not replace those pans with the underpinnings of a whole new car? You'll be going faster than you expected in it in no time.
