Noriyaro.com is one of our favorite sources for JDM enthusiasm. Owner Alexi Smith has the three tools you need to make a great JDM website: He lives in Japan, speaks the language, and loves the car culture. We are especially jealous of all the time he spends at Ebisu Circuit and its festive Drift Matsuri events.

In this video Alexi is allowed to drive an old-school survivor drift car, an AE86 that was built in the late ’80s when touge was a mostly unknown, underground endeavor. The car is a Trueno, the equivalent of an 1984 to 1986 AE86 Corolla GTS in America, and its 4A-GE engine has been retrofitted with Solex carburetors. In the early days owner/tuners tuned what they knew and electronic fuel injection was new, so some scrapped the EFI in favor of carbs.

This car has been in the hands of the same owner for 22 years and, according to Alexi, the settings have remained unchanged since the ’90s… talk about driving a time capsule. We were surprised to learn that the Toyota sports stock steering knuckles and power steering, the opposite of what a purpose-built drift car would have. And we must say the car with its fading paint, busted up body work, and rust spots is adorned with the most weather-beaten stickers we’ve ever seen. We wouldn’t change a thing; that patina was properly earned!

On the track, Alexi who is not a professional drifter but doesn’t suck either, gives the Trueno a very informative real world thrashing … he has his spins and he has his successes, but the Toyota sounds pretty comfortable at 8,500 RPM.

The footage lets us watch the view out the windshield with an inset footwell camera that shows Alexi rev matching and clutch kicking. It is some cool video of one of the most original ‘founding father’ AE86s we’ve ever seen.