Just A Car Guy: in 1987, Manny Powell of Columbus, Ohio, traded a wooden end table for a 1969 Camaro that had been mired in mud for years. He cut the body into 29 pieces and slowly reassembled it in miniature

Sunday, July 15, 2018

in 1987, Manny Powell of Columbus, Ohio, traded a wooden end table for a 1969 Camaro that had been mired in mud for years. He cut the body into 29 pieces and slowly reassembled it in miniature

the idea being to show off his killer Chevrolet 454-cu.in. V-8 with a Weiand blower. He figured the smaller the car, the bigger the engine would look. Manny’s mini won more shows than races

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2013/08/28/charlie-beesleys-car-pictures-part-2-oddballs-and-weirdos/

Back in 1987, I was hunting for an old car to put my big block motor in so you could see the motor. 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, 2x3 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.

The car is only 4 feet 10 inches wide in the rear and 3 feet 7 inches in the front. It’s 13 feet long and 3 feet, 1.5 inches tall. This is the world’s smallest drivable 1969 Camaro.