DIESEL-POWERED ADVENTURE TRUCK

It’s more than a K20 with patina

- Jered Korfhage

Ken Smith is no stranger to off-road travel. In fact, you may have seen him in Petersen’s 4-Wheel & Off-Road’s Ultimate Adventure a few (or more) times in various vehicles. He has rigs with meaty tires and big power for his rowdier trail exploits, but sometimes he just likes to slow it all down and bring a passenger along with a few creature comforts. That’s where his ’71 Chevy K20 comes in.

Once you tear your eyes away from the ochre paintjob and patina, you might notice the K20 sits on newer bones. When Ken got the K20 from Utah, it was a rolling chassis. His plan going forward went a bit like this: “It’d be cool to have a Cummins truck,” so he worked some fabrication magic to mate the 3 ⁄4-ton body with the chassis from an ’01 Dodge Ram 2500. From there, it only took a few minor adjustments to make the K20 a reliable machine on the rougher trails, as well as the stretches of highway in between. We caught up with Ken and his wife, Charla, on Four Wheeler’s Overland Adventure East where they showed us how the K20 has all the comforts they need when they’re on the road and the trail.