The Super Possum, a 1997 Chevrolet Malibu, started its life as a vehicle for The Ethanol Vehicle Challenge sponsored by the Department of Energy. General Motors donated the vehicle to our school for use in the competition. The objective was to engineer a vehicle that ran on ethanol and had the same driveability as a production vehicle. The team completed the transformation of the vehicle and attended the competition in May of 1998 at the GM Proving Grounds in Milford, Michigan. They managed a respective 6th Place finish.

We returned from our summer break in 2003 and pulled the Malibu into the garage to check fluids and clean up the car a bit. When we opened the hood, we found a possum had made his home there. The Malibu was moved outside the garage and two members, Matt Butts and Larry Parrington, attempted to remove the possum with hockey sticks. For those animal activists, no hitting of the possum occurred, however, we did chase it around the parking lot for a good laugh. Since that day we have referred to the Malibu as the Super Possum.