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When the 1972 Chevy Blazer was released out into the wild, it was a spartan vehicle with utilitarianism at its core. Thanks to a talented list of creators, conducted by the equally talented maestros at RingBrothers, this 1972 K5 Chevy Blazer has just bested the entire field of SEMA show cars competing in the 2024 TMI Products TRIM Awards. What once started as a means to go hunting, fishing, or acquiring firewood has been transformed into a real trophy trawler.
The upfitted K5 was the brain-child of visionary, Sean Smith, of Sean Smith Designs, and built by the talented RingBrothers team. The design is a tasty blend of vintage style and concept car luxury. Of course, everything is encased by those classic Chevy lines that never go out of style and slathered with a layer of Galactic Black paint.
A discerning panel of judges will assess the competition based on their substantive, personal knowledge and award several vehicles with their respective TRIM awards. Only the ultimate example of interior goodness will receive the TRIM Champion award.
That doesn’t mean those iconic K5 lines weren’t blurred a little during the build. To start, the sides of the body and the tailgate were raised two inches so that they would line up perfectly with the top of the doors. The fiberglass top isn’t a factory offering, rather it was hand-built and features an integrated, powered panoramic roof from a modern Chevy Blazer.
Under all that reconfigured goodness rests a Tacoma chassis featuring a 525-horsepower 6.2L LS3 from Chevy Performance, backed by a Bowler Tru-Street GM 4L60e transmission, NP208 transfer case, and Trutrac differential. All this rolling thunder resides on a set of 18-inch HRE wheels dipped in bronze.
RingBrothers describe their latest creation as “Designed with a dual focus on off-road agility and modern comfort. To instill “modern comfort” into a ’72 Chevy Blazer, it took the talented Gabe Lopez and team at Gabe’s Custom Interiors to bring Sean Smith’s design to life.
The entire interior is custom fabricated, the only way to reach the bar dreamt up by Sean Smith. The entire dashboard, console, and door panels were custom fabricated before getting skinned with leather, carbon fiber, and billet materials. A set of Dakota Digital gauges upgrade the dash pod for modern accuracy.
Not one square inch of interior was left untouched, the level of work necessary to secure top bidding by the judges. Turk's interior reaches new heights by implementing numerous modern touches and upgrades without them looking out of place in the 1972 Chevy K5 Blazer's interior. 
Seating arrangements were moved slightly rearward for increased legroom and covered with a complementary mix of black leather and silver inserts. That modern comfort continues once the doors are opened, thanks to the drop-down side steps designed to ease entry and egress of the vehicle.
The RingBrothers’ K5 Blazer spent its time at SEMA in the Gentex Corporation booth, where the TMI TRIM Award judges scoured the 4×4 in consideration for the award.
The Ring brothers call their latest K5 creation “Tuka,” but it took a team of TMI judges to call this 1972 Chevy K5 Blazer the 2024 TMI TRIM Award Champion. We think they nailed it with their latest decision and we look forward to seeing how far this incredible 1972 K5 Blazer will go on the show scene, as well as the great outdoors. Granted, the latter may happen only after it collects all the awards it can comfortably carry in that highly modified, award-winning interior.
