Beech Bend was stuffed with vehicles for the first day of LS Fest East 2021. We had trucks, Camaro’s, Corvettes, classics, you name it. You’ll always find vehicles that stand out in a crown. Zac’s 1980 Chevrolet K-5 Blazer was just that.

A friend of Zac’s originally bought the Blazer to flip, but he couldn’t help himself. He bought it and decided to make it something he could cruise and enjoy with his family. This truck was sold new in Scottsdale, Arizona at Ray Karte Chevrolet and has stayed in that area until he got his hands on it. Thankfully this means he had clean original paint. Although it was clean, plain white on white bored him out of his mind. Instead of repainting it completely, he decided to replicate the red and blue strobe stripe from the 1975 GMC Indy Hauler truck to give it some pop.

The worn-out 305 had absolutely no chance of staying under the hood. Zac found a 5.3L/4L60E combo for the truck. Since it was meant to drive, he didn’t get too power hungry. It’s just a stock rebuilt 5.3L with a BTR cam, but it sounds fantastic and has been dead reliable for him. When doing the swap, one piece he chose before even building the engine was Holley’s mid-mount front drive accessory kit, which includes accessories, a cartridge-style water pump, pulleys, damper, adapter, belt, requires no brackets and it fits inside the width of the exhaust manifolds. It allows for high visibility for the engine and has plenty of clearance for the accessories.

Zac’s goal was to keep this thing something classy that almost anybody would appreciate, but also something he could be proud of. The stance is a perfect blend of form and function with plenty of ground clearance. Our favorite part about this truck’s look is the 22” Detroit Steel Delray wheels, which are an oversized replica of the original Chevy truck Rally. In a sea of incredible cars, Zac’s K-5 stood out BIG time from the crowd in a sea of hi-rams and turbos. Hopefully we’ll see this K-5 out at more shows soon!