Common ground. Admittedly – these days it seems tough to find. Or to even want to find. It’s like we’ve become apathetic to finding common ground. Which is ironic, because the current social climate loves to shove exploited inclusivity down our throat. Yet behind the curtains, the real world seems to be slipping the other way. The digital era has desensitized us, while enabling us to be self-consumed. We seem all too content to segregate ourselves, write people off, and dehumanize our fellow brothers & sisters. Hard-headedness is not an example of strength… it’s weakness. Strong individuals find ways to find common ground. They put in the effort. And relationships take effort on both ends… it can’t work one-sided. Our two subjects here – Mark Frisbie & Jamie Murphy – found common ground in an old Chevy Blazer… body-swapped on a C5 Corvette chassis.
Jamie is the stepdaughter…
And initially, she wasn’t close to Mark. I assume few relationships are more delicate/complicated than the one between a stepfather & stepdaughter. Jamie had her own adult life going on. And that life included… not cars… and not really Mark either. Three years ago, Jamie owned maybe 2 screwdrivers and a pair of pliers.
Mark Frisbie is the stepfather…
For Mark, life is a project. It’s all about passion, thrill, grit, adventure, and creating. He sees the potential in what most people are too busy for. Car culture was/is a huge part of Mark’s life. And somehow/someway, car culture prevails again lol… and breaks down the walls.
Long story short…
One day outside of church, Jamie told Mark she wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. “Could you maybe teach me?” Between the lines… Mark saw it as a much bigger deal than just a motorcycle lesson. Hell yeah he could teach her!
Not long after…
Mark was running a local SCCA autocross in his square-body Chevy (above). He had invited the fam to come out. But what Jamie didn’t know… is that he registered her to drive. He gave her a helmet, she gave it a go, and got hooked. Jamie, a kindergarten teacher, now had it bad for a project car.
As fate would have it…
Michael Hunt (from Tredwear) & his wife were coming through town on vacation, and they made plans to meet-up for dinner. The Tredwear boys are known for body-swap builds at their shop in Alabama. And at some point during dinner, Michael Hunt essentially said,
“Ya knooow… the wheelbase of an old Blazer and a C5 Corvette are only about an inch & a half off.”
The Chevy Blazer…
In Indianapolis, it’s not too hard to find a rusted-out old Blazer. And this is a classic case of: One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Because for what Mark & Jamie had planned, rust wasn’t a dealbreaker. All they needed was the Blazer skin – not the drivetrain, not the chassis/frame, not the suspension, not the floorboards, etc. They found a suitable Blazer, cut-out most of the floor, put it on a trailer, and headed down to Georgia.
The C5 Corvette…
Mark’s friend, Tim Davis from Sally’s Speed Shop in Newnan, GA, found a cheap rust-free C5 Corvette in Georgia. Only issue was, it had been rear-ended. But again… “One man’s trash”. Cosmetic damage wasn’t a dealbreaker, because it wasn’t ‘cosmetics’ they were after. Jamie and Mark loaded the C5 Corvette on their trailer, and headed across state lines to Tredwear just outside Birmingham, Alabama.
At Tredwear USA…
Jamie & Mark spent the weekend with Michael & Lee at Tredwear. The objective was to do the initial mating of the Blazer to the C5 Corvette chassis. Essentially to get them off-&-running on their project. As I mentioned earlier but don’t want to understate: Michael & Lee at Tredwear are total gurus for body-swaps. They’ve done a slew of radical body-swap projects (some of which we’ve featured, I’ll link at the end). So they have an eye for slicing-up & attacking these types of projects. But having said that – this absolutely is not another case of “girl poses by car for Instagram”. Jamie got her hands dirty here. She’s done most of the welding on her Blazer. And yeah – she’s had some good teachers. But this is her project… not just from the sidelines.
As you can see…
The Blazer wheelbase is about 1.5-inches longer than the C5 Corvette’s wheelbase. To remedy that dilemma, they cut the rear wheel-well section on the Blazer & moved it forward 1.5-inches (see above photo clusters).
Back home in Indy…
Mark & Jamie must have had the Blazer on-&-off the C5 Corvette chassis at least 2-dozen more times. Only they didn’t have the luxury of a full shop, so they did it in the yard with a chain hoist & a mulberry tree. And a 2-car garage built in the 1920s with a low 7ft ceiling. But that’s what hot-rod culture is all about. It’s crafty & creative. In the modern more filtered influencer culture, we loose sight of that. But it’s not about perfection or popularity, it’s about perseverance. Gritty cars are more interesting. They’re more magnetic. There’s more story to tell. And this Blazer… has a lot to say.
Best part is…
Underneath it all, it’s a C5 Corvette. So it handles & performs (mostly) like a C5 Corvette would lol. Jamie got some QA1 mod-series coilovers for even further improved handling. And she’s also done some headwork and a cam. But the real victory here isn’t the time-slip or the trophy. @Builtshouldabought
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