In the latest episode of Automobile Magazine’s “The Downshift”, the crew revisits the Monster Miata tuning shop in San Marcos, California, and interviews the company’s founder Martin Wilson.

In the video, Wilson talks about the past, the present and the future of the company that became famous for stuffing a Ford Mustang-sourced 5.0-liter V8 into the engine compartment of the Mazda MX-5 roadster (see another V8 powered Miata here).

According to Wilson, if someone brings a stock MX-5 to his shop, the complete conversion will cost roughly around $17,000 to $18,000 (about €14,000 to €15,000 at the current exchange rates).

Among the future plans of Monster Miata is to use other powertrains on the MX-5 including Ford’s newest V6 engines.

You can get a sense of Wilson’s impetus for yourself in the video after the jump.

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