see below
This is the begening of it. Basically people where buying cheap, easy to find RWD cars in japan, none of which are mustangs or f-bodies, and started modifying them to “Drift”. Essentially the root of the sport is in cheap cars, which is why the dude in Hawaii is rocking a third gen and doing well with it, it is essentially a cheap, high power, easily modified, rwd car thats disposable due to production numbers.