‘Jaws’ superfan attends 50th anniversary screening on Martha’s Vineyard with his custom Chevy K5 Blazer replica
Martha’s Vineyard has always carried the double identity of postcard-perfect New England and fictional Amity Island. This summer, during the 50th anniversary screening of “Jaws,” one longtime fan added another layer: driving off the ferry into town behind the wheel of a Chevy K5 Blazer that looked like it rolled straight off the film set.
The SUV in question is a painstaking replica of Chief Martin Brody’s 1975 Blazer
In Steven Spielberg’s thriller, Brody used the truck to patrol Amity’s beaches while quietly fearing the water.
For fans, that square-bodied Chevrolet (with its police decals, cherry lights, and utilitarian stance) became nearly as iconic as the shark itself.
Brody’s Blazer fought the Ford Bronco and Jeep Wrangler in real life
Chevrolet launched the Blazer in 1969 as a truck-based rival to the Bronco and Wrangler, betting that buyers wanted heavy-duty toughness with open-air versatility.
By 1973, the “square body” generation introduced the removable fiberglass roof that helped Brody patrol the beach topless (his Blazer’s roof, that is). ‘73, ‘74, and ‘75 were the only years that offered it.
The 1975 K5 featured a 350-cubic-inch V8 with a four-barrel carburetor, a TH350 automatic, and full-time four-wheel drive.
Safety touches included a padded roll bar and those unforgettable spinning red bubble lights.
Brody’s two-tone gold-and-white version paired a tan vinyl interior with creature comforts like air conditioning and power steering. In Spielberg’s film, the truck was essentially stock (aside from mounts for cameras) making it a snapshot of mid-’70s GM engineering.
While I couldn’t find whatever happened to the original “Jaws” movie car, over the years, a replica popped up. Over a decade ago, a guy apparently bought one and took two painstaking years to turn it into Brody’s Blazer. It listed on Barrett-Jackson’s auction site in 2012.
That was too early for one superfan to make his purchase, but he’d end up behind the wheel of one eventually.
The man behind the 2025 K5 tribute drive first saw “Jaws” as a child…and never shook the obsession
By the time Gabe DiSaverio moved to Boston in the late 1990s, trips to Martha’s Vineyard were routine pilgrimages.
He collected photos at filming sites, reenacted favorite scenes, and eventually attended JawsFest in 2012, where he met cast members and the widow of author Peter Benchley.
But the fantasy was always the Blazer, he explained in a blog post.
He searched for 15 years, checking classifieds every few months, until March 2020 when he spotted a pristine ’75 at a North Carolina auction.
Not only was it solid, it already wore the right paint scheme.
He entered a phone-in bidding war, stuck to his budget, and won
With temporary plates in hand, he flew south to drive it home himself, learning carburetor quirks and wiper controls along the way. After a 14-hour haul, “Martin” (named for Brody) was safely in New Hampshire.
From there he went full detail-oriented: ordering Amity vanity plates, sourcing hubcaps to match the film, repainting trim panels, and commissioning vinyl police graphics.
Even the roll bar and roof treatment were corrected to echo the movie.
The finished product wasn’t just a film replica, it was a rolling “Jaws” monument
At the Vineyard anniversary event, surrounded by superfans who never tire of sharks and suspense, his Blazer added something tangible.
It bridged the gap between screen and street, reminding everyone that sometimes the most enduring props from a North Atlantic-set film aren’t on the water; they’re parked right in front of you.
