When Mike and Sandy Powell decided to move, eight years ago, to rural Wisconsin from Gilbert, Arizona, they did so with the intention of giving-up a few “complications” in their lives in order to make the whole thing easier for the both of them, leading the peaceful life, as Powell himself describes it, “The serenity of our existence up here is a far contrast to the hectic life that we had.” Powell explains further, “I had a friend of mine tell me this was God’s country up here several years ago and I certainly believe it.”

The Powells are definitely living what most would call, “The Good Life,” currently residing on what Mike describes as “40 acres of hills, trees and abundant wildlife,” in between Eau Claire and Fall Creek. Mike’s professional background is in managing companies, and he currently manages a regional public accounting firm with the hope of retiring in a few years. Adding to Powell’s resume, however, is this mean machine that Powell calls his “dream car,” this incredible, 800-horse ’69 Malibu.

Photo: Eaton Performance

From what he tells us, the Malibu was a dream of Powell’s for a long time, and Mike tells us that he has been a “motorhead as far back as I can remember, and have intermittently been involved in drag racing and dirt track racing.” But what Mike says is the most outstanding feature of his super-fast Chevelle is Eaton Performance’s TrueTrac differential, which, according to Mike, combines a true performance diff with one for the street into one, convenient unit. Mike explains, “Absolutely the best of both worlds — by far the best performance differential for the street that’s on the market.”

And with the kind of sideways-drifting power that Powell is building on his ’69 Malibu, we can see why Eaton’s TrueTrac has been such a revolutionary piece of equipment for him and his car; currently, Mike’s Chevelle door-slammer sports a 540-cube roller motor that runs on E85 fuel. The stout mill, as seen in the below video, is chasing an Abruzzi-built, TH400 trans with a 4000rpm stall.

Here are the complete specs of this amazing ride:

• 540 Merlin III block
• Scat 4340 crank and h-beam rods
• JE Pistons 13:1’s
• Comp custom grind Cam .715/.715 266/273
• RHS 320 ported heads,
• ProSystems 1000 cfm 4150 on top of a Victor Jr
• Abruzzi TH400 and 4000 stall converter
• 3.55’s on an Eaton TrueTrac and 33 spline Strange axles.

Needless to say, Mike and Sandy Powell have both achieved their dream of living in “God’s Country,” but as for Mike himself…he just may be driving what has proven to be “God’s Chevelle,” and believe us when we say that “God” comes with great wrath!