The Blue Devil: Show & Speed's Chevy Silverado Custom
I think we can all agree that you don’t need to tear a Chevy Silverado 1500 apart to clean up the wiring and tune it up. And yet, that’s the origin story of The Blue Devil, here.
Origin Story
When Marcos Reyna bought the truck at a Mecum auction in Dallas, it was pretty basic, with a small block 327ci bolted to a 350 turbo trans and a decent paint job. It didn’t stay that way for too long. A few short months later it sported a LS but once it was put back together, he knew it needed said tuning and harness work. “That’s how Show & Speed got started,” he recalled. ”It’s a funny story in the shop because I tell people all the time, ‘I just put my truck in to clean up wiring and the next thing I know the whole truck was torn apart.’”
Mind you, a deeper customization wasn’t in the cards until then. Marcos tells us: “My concept was to keep a basic clean truck with tasteful modifications. I didn’t want this build to be so outrageous that it would take us years to build. We simply built the truck quickly to show what Show & Speed was capable of doing.” Born way back in 2020, Show & Speed Hot Rods specializes in, well, hot rods, both traditional and more modern. They also do small to large restorations along with motor swaps, wiring, suspension upgrades, and small auto classic collision repair work.
As we alluded to a couple of paragraphs ago, this Silverado serves as a rolling calling card of their work. That is, when Marco isn’t grinning ear to ear driving it and showing it off. He’d always dreamed about owning something custom built just for himself and we’d say he scratched that itch big time with Blue Devil.
The Heart of the Matter
Part of that comes from the aforementioned engine swap. Marco changed over to a 5.3 liter LS but he didn’t just plop it in without some upgrades. His mill runs Comp Cam Sloppy Stage 2 cams and Double Springs, too. It was also the lucky recipient of a Holley Hi-Rise intake manifold that’s mated to a Flowmaster American Thunder back system and Headman mid-length header. The mild hop-up makes The Blue Devil just a touch more sinister in the power department. Marco’s LS is cooled down by an AFCO dual-fan radiator and he has it wired up with a Holley Terminator harness and MSD wiring. All told, the powerplant cranks out a reported 319 horsepower at 5950 RPM. That ain’t too bad for a truck! A L60E trans sends all of that power to the wheels.
Running with the Devil
Show & Speed didn’t disappoint in the handling department, either. The Blue Devil packs RideTech StreetGrip suspension front and rear. The system’s Delrin bushings eliminate deflection, and dual-rate springs make for smoother transitions over small dips and bumps thanks to a compliant spring rate. Not only that, the adjustable monotube shocks deliver premium ride quality and handling performance to boot.
The shop also narrowed the back end to better fit the deep dish wheels at the rear. The Blue Devil prowls on Boze wheels (20x9-inch front, 20x12-inch rear) set in Nitto INVO rubber (245/45/20 forward, 315/35/20 out back). Going with Nitto Tires was a foregone conclusion for Marco but the INVOs weren’t his first choice. No, you read that correctly. The Blue Devil Sivlerado truck runs Nitto’s luxury high performance street tires. For cars. “I like the way the Nitto NT555’s look and I have used those on other previous cars I’ve owned but at the time that style was unavailable so I went with the INVO’s.” All four wheel setups rely on Wilwood brakes and rotors to keep things in check at speed on the road.
On with the Show
What’s more, The Blue Devil also catches attention as well as its tires catch traction in a canyon curve. Show & Speed Hot Rods had addressed the speed part but now it was time for the show. The shop’s own Jose Martinez knocked the body fab out of the park with custom made fiberglass door panels and panel under the hood. “The matte paint gets everyone’s attention but once I open the hood the engine bay stands out,” Marcos says. “We have taken a trophy home for best engine.” Engine bay panels from VanNatta Fabrication also made for a clean look around the motor.
That engine bay and the custom walnut wood bed are Marco’s favorite parts of his killer truck.
The Blue Devil wouldn’t really live up to its moniker without at least a cool blue paint job, though. The truck got it’s name for how smoothly and simply it was to paint. By which I mean, it was anything but smoothly and simply to paint: “The matte paint was the hardest part of the job,” according to Marcos. “The matte clear took some time to perfect which gave it the name, The Blue Devil.” It’s a Custom Blue Paint mixed in house with a Matte Clear Finish. In the end, Jose Martinez gave The Blue Devil as a great a paint job as he’d done in fabricating the bodywork. The Gloss Gray is a custom color, too.
An Inside Job
Take a seat inside and you’ll see that the fun continues in the cockpit. The overall vibe is a masterful blend of classic, custom, and modern. For starters, the dash is set with a Budnik steering wheel and Dakota Digital RTX gauges. Xtitch out of Fort Worth not only created the carpet they also took care of the custom seats, color matching them to the gray paint with a two-tone blend of brown and gray. But for as cool as all of these changes and upgrades are, sometimes it’s the hidden subtleties that really make a custom car or truck. In this case, the devil’s in the door panels. “The windows are electric and one-piece glass. Looking into the truck on the door panels, I wanted a clean old school look, so I used the Lokar door handles and window handles to look as if I still have manual roll down windows,” Marcos says. The Blue Devil also packs a Restomod Air setup for the AC and heat. When it came to the stereo system, Jose Martinez nailed it again with a custom built fiberglass stereo system behind the seat.
Managing Expectations
All told it took nine months to bring The Blue Devil into a fully realized custom truck that’s as fun to drive as it is to look at. Marcos Reyna tells us it came out better than he expected. Still, there are a few things he’d change if he were making this truck again. “I’d definitely put more horsepower in there, and go with a bigger motor or turbos.” Maybe we'll see that the next time he just wants a tune and wiring job...
