By Rob Fortier – Images by NotStock Photography
Back in 2021, Houston’s Luis Villarreal was going through a bit of a hard time: it was the height of COVID-19, which had just claimed the life of his father. To “keep his mind busy,” as he put it, he needed to find a project of sorts to keep his hands busy as well. As it turned out, his uncle was in the middle of acquiring a pair of early Chevys from California, and the owner also had a ’69 K5 and a ’64 SS Impala, both of which caught Luis’ attention—enough so that they made their way to Texas!
Soon enough, Luis fell in love with the K5 and decided that was the one he was going to build in honor of his late father, whom he’d opened a shop with (LFTW Customs) back in 2016 doing just that … “building badass trucks.” With the help of Alamo Customs (St. Patrick’s signature paint), Heath Moore (assistance on the full-custom roadster interior), Chassis Fab (laid out suspension, obviously), and AM Hot Rod Glass (for the custom headerless/glue-in windshield), that tradition continued for his dad with the forthcoming build that wrapped up earlier last year.
Besides the multi-hued custom-mix paint (formulated by Pistolero’s Custom Paint) applied by Alamo Customs, what stands out most notably due to the K5’s roadster-style design is the two-person cockpit flanked by an abbreviated bed wood tonneau cover (stained in a complementing green, of course, by Alamo Customs). LFTW and Heath Moore tag-teamed the interior, using a mixture of black leather, custom sculpted paneling, CNC’d accents (including Ringbrothers dash bezels), and a pair of TMI buckets. Dakota Digital instruments fill the OE-style gauge panel, while a Sparc three-spoke wheel tops an Ididit column and accents the Lokar brake/throttle combo below. Based off a Mobile Toys Inc. Kenwood-equipped double-din is a full custom JL Audio–based sound system by ISH.
But prior to all that flair inside and out, the body first had to be given a complete once-over … and by that we mean chopped and laid-back windshield (with the aforementioned one-off screen), cut down and capped doors to flow with bedsides, tucked bumpers, and a custom grille insert courtesy of Alamo. Some OE side, grille surround, and tailgate trim coupled with a nice contrasting two-tone and a set of 22/24-inch Billet Specialties concave Impellers truly set the exterior off.
Since we’re going in reverse order, below the 3-inch cowl induction hood lies a ’68 vintage small-block Chevy fed by a Speedmaster eight-stack induction and flanked by Slosh Tubz inner fenders and a custom firewall and core support sheetmetal. That, in summary, all rides atop a Chassis Fab-modified frame that features a GSI front suspension with its own back-half and rear suspension (all four corners using Little Shop 16-inch brakes), all controlled by an Air Lift Performance 3P/3H management system.
We think Luis Villarreal’s father (RIP), would be quite proud of his son’s and LFTW’s work in creating St. Patrick!
Check out this story in our digital edition here.
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