Ruined is usually a term that people utter when they don’t understand the custom truck scene. It’s often considered “ruined” when you modify a vehicle from stock to achieve a custom look. But when you’re customizing your vehicle to make it more personal and appealing to your own preferences, it’s anything but ruined.
Being a woman in the truck scene isn’t easy. “It takes a lot to be taken seriously when you’re a girl,” Lacey Blair describes. “It’s almost like I have to work twice as hard for that respect.” But working hard is something Lacey has done her whole life, owning both Town & Country Salon and LB Motorsports in Potosi, Missouri.
As an entrepreneur, Lacey strives every day to elevate her brand and make the right money moves. One of the companies that Lacey works for is Monat Global (a premium hair product line), and after hitting a certain mark in the company, you’re offered a very specific vehicle – a white Cadillac. They usually push you to get a sedan, but Lacey has always been more of a truck girl. She wanted the perfect SUV, and the largest vehicle that Cadillac makes, so she found a 2015 Cadillac Escalade ESV at an Iowa dealership and made all the arrangements to bring it home. “I remember the first night I had the Escalade. I did a burnout leaving the dealership.”
Things got a bit more intense in the following weeks and months, with Lacey completely focused on the build. She began ordering parts and the waiting game began for everything to come in. While she was waiting, she decided to add her company logo on the Cadillac, as Vinyl Images in St. Louis dressed the Caddy with her LB logo in light purple and chrome. The next step was the custom grille that was handcrafted by Boost Bars and installed by Richard Lee at Breton Creek Customs. The Cadillac was put on jack stands and the factory undercoating was stripped and re-painted black by Richard Lee, JC Hires and Lacey.
A 15” Full Throttle Suspension lift was delivered next, and Zach Pennock used his expertise to powder coat the entire lift and suspension components in Prismatic Powders Misty Lilac. Kannan’s Auto Body painted the axles and suspension overlays in Pearl White. Once Richard Lee, Don Wimberly, Zach Pennock and JC Hires installed the lift on the Escalade, bringing the SUV sky high for Lacey, Amp Research steps were mounted so she could get in and out of the truck. A spare tire delete plate was custom cut by Denver Counts at DSP Motorsports, and Zach added the powdercoating to blend into the undercarriage color. Heartland Fab welded traction bars to prevent axle wrap and wheel hop.
Under the hood, Lacey wanted the lifted Cadillac to have some muscle. Even though the Escalade comes with a powerful 6.2L V8, she wanted more. And what Lacey wants, she makes sure she gets. A 2.3 Whipple Supercharger kit was ordered and given the Misty Lilac powder coating treatment and installed by Don Wimberly, along with a Gibson Performance exhaust and Speed Engineering long tube headers. As one of her many hats, Lacey does work for Hostile Wheels at numerous events throughout the country, so when it came time to outfit her new “ruined” Cadillac, it made sense to pick out the wheels that she always wanted. A set of 26” Hostile Punishers wrapped in 44” Interco Boggers were mounted by Richard Lee and Don Wimberly. Thanks to her hard work, she’s now driving around in her dream ride, dressed to impressed!
