WE FEATURED Paul Souma’s insane ’56 Chev sedan on the cover of our January 2013 issue, but it only made its Summernats debut this year.

Built to produce 2500hp, the ProFlo Performance-built 632ci big-block is an engineering marvel, featuring a pair of 90mm turbos and a six-inch-thick air-to-air intercooler.

In testing the car has seen over 1900hp at the tyres, but on the first run at Summernats it only managed 1468rwhp when it pushed out a sparkplug. The boys got it fixed and brought it back later in the day to make 1730rwhp and qualify in second place for Horsepower Heroes.

Boost control issues saw the big Chevy limited to 1585rwhp in the finals on Sunday, which wasn’t enough to beat Jake Edwards and his 2000hp-plus Torana, but we’re sure the boys will be back next year.

Paul is ready to start cruising in the mega-horsepower beast, and that’s the reason he started with a family-friendly sedan. “We went four-door for the kids,” he says. “It always had to be about family. Family always comes first and that’s why it took 13 years to build this car.”