"Nobody believed, everybody laughed at me," Souza told Globo.com. "I was very humbled by this, but I won and I built my car alone with my own hands. "



By December, Souza was able to replace the motorcycle engine's kickstarter with a car ignition, and add in a gearbox with reverse. The mostly Fiat shrimpmobile can reach 50 mph on the highway, and Souza has been able to use it to find a home and a job in the local sugarcane fields.

Orismar de Souza, 35, of São José de Piranha, Brazil, built a functional car out of junk. He actually shaped the body himself out of sheet metal using a hammer and chisel. The engine 125cc engine is from a motorcycle, and the other parts were gathered from junk yards in his area. After four years of work, off and on, he was successful: Link | Photo: Divulgação/Wagner Batista da Silva/Arquivo Pessoal