"Intrepid Nashvillian Jimmy Hogan illustrates what hot rodding is all about: into one medium sized garage, pour one car, miscellaneous junkyard parts, torches, welders, friends and cheap beer. Shake well. Serve one fast vehicle. In Jimmy's case, a Mazda Miata…

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. In this one you see the 5.0 HO V8 Miata project. Outside the window you see the empty carcass of a Mustang that once housed the engine that is sitting in the Miata right now. In the foreground you see a fire extinguisher necessary at this stage of the project because Jimmy's not sure he's got the wiring right.



What you don't see, however, is the deafening sound of uncapped headers filling the garage and three grease-covered guys with…

A friend of mine, Joe Young, found the idea on the web: http://monstermiata.com (I'm not paying $4,000 for the web swap kit though... we're going to fabricate everything).



The other player involved is a long-time friend, Sammy Barry. He's a machinist by trade and was building customs and race cars down in Pass Christian Mississippi until he got wiped out by Katrina. He moved back to Tennessee…