The Hot Rod Miata

A 450hp, v-8-powered throwback to the 1940's.

- Bk Nakadashi

Before we get into the Mazda Miata on these pages, Grandpa Nakadashi is gonna tell ya a li’l story about hot rods…

World War II was terrible. Our military took young American men and got them working on machinery. Tanks, Jeeps, planes, boats... hundreds of thousands of ’em featured prominently in the world’s most mechanized conflict yet. If you weren’t behind the wheel, or in the cockpit, then you were fixing ’em. After the war, a glut of military-trained engineering talent and testosterone exploded all over America. The speed and endorphin rush of the machines they wrenched and flew were addictive; the white picket-fence reality of home was a snooze. And so, with so many skilled, technically minded people sitting around bored, home-brew hot rods were popping up all over the place. They helped re-create the thrill of living life on the edge for the stir-crazy youth of postwar America.

Between the simplicity of the recipe and the startling result, it’s no wonder that hot rodding took off as it did. Rods could be built with pieces from the local bone yard: Even the bucks-down could take a clapped-out Model A Ford coupe, pull the fenders, lose the hood, drop in a flathead Ford V-8 (as was the custom), and go like stink, sending moms to clutch their children to their breasts as they dove for cover. Hell, to be called a hot rodder was akin to calling yourself a hooligan for most of the ’40s.