1969 Camaro - Owned by Manny Powell
Manny Powell
Back in 1987, I was hunting for an old car to put my big block motor in so you could actually see it. While hunting one day, I stumbled across an old 1969 body sunk in the mud of an old barn. I asked the owner what she would take for the car, and the next day she stopped by my yard sale and traded it with me for an end table.
I wanted everybody to see my killer motor, so I cut the car down small enough to see it. I measured the driveshaft before taking out my saw and cutting the body into 29 parts, not realizing it would take the next 10 years to put it back together. I worked a full-time day job and worked on my car at night.
When I first started, I went to Jegs and bought a roll cage kit and a 24-foot, 2-by-3-foot steel frame that I took home and narrowed to fit the car. It has a 1963 Chevy van straight axle in the front; a beefed-up 10-bolt Chevy rear end with Mosher axles; a 350 turbo transmission; and a 454 motor with a 671 Weiland blower and two 650 Holley carburetors. Once I got it running, I drove it for three years, winning a lot of trophies at car shows.
However, a house fire three years later damaged the car. Since then, I’ve been rebuilding it — another six years in the making. I have had an awful time getting it back together, but it is finally finished. The car is only 4 feet by 10 inches wide in the rear and 3 feet by 7 inches in the front. It’s 13 feet long and 3 feet, 1.5 inches tall. This is the world’s smallest driveable 1969 Camaro.
Date ran: August 2011