What you’re looking at now is a (mostly) 1980 Chevrolet Light Utility Vehicle. A Chevy LUV with parts from car/truck makes and models ranging from ’79 280ZX marker lights to ’86 Celica bucket seats. My father, Joe Shreeve, purchased a large portion of this truck in late 2005 and began to piece together his childhood dream ride. It’s been an ongoing project ever since.
With chrome sleepy eye covers and custom lexan blinker covers, this truck is far from ordinary. That hellaflush stance is achieved by a 14×7/15×8 stagger and an ’86 S10 front valance completes the look.
What many people don’t know is that the Chevy Luv was actually manufactured by Isuzu. Under the baby blue hood lies a 1.8L 4 cylinder Isuzu engine, bored .40 over with a Delta Cam (236° lift, 440° duration°), Pertronix Electronic Ignition, and a Redline 32/36 Weber carburetor. The loping idle created by the aggressive cam paired with the Lakewood traction bars and 265/50 rear tires lead many an onlooker to assume a V8 lurks beneath the bonnet.
The coolest thing about this fancy oil catch tank is not the excessive breather filters, but rather that which secures it to the inner fender. While searching for the perfect bracket to mount it in the engine bay, my dad came across an old skate-stopper that I “found” at a local middle school. The 45° angle of the skateboard-unfun-maker puts the catch can in the ideal location.
The focus of this particular photograph is not the utlra-ricey chrome plate to cover the hundreds of dents on the Chevrolet logo, but rather the addition of a “5 Speed” emblem.
Borrowed from a ’78 Celica, this emblem alludes to the addition of an ’86 Isuzu Pup five speed transmission, a necessary upgrade from the stock “four on the floor” configuration.
Although during certain stages of the LUV’s life, it could have been consider show quality, “Misty Blue” has spent her days as a dedicated work truck. Hauling wheels, tires, jacks, tools, and occasionally an air compressor to drift events, this vehicle has been an integral asset to my drifting exploits.
However, that’s not why the bed is full of junk today. We didn’t have the necessary parts to slam this thing to my standards, so we used weight as an alternative. I’m blaming my destroyed back on the rusty engine block you see above.
After instructing my father to give me his best modeling pose, he did this. What can I say? It runs in the family. 🙂
– Justin Shreeve
TANDEM OF DIE
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