An abridged history of my blazer & some current pictures.

[BUDDY]

A little background:

I bought this truck when i was a senior in HS in 1994. The day I brought it home, we cleaned it all up, waxed it & took pictures of it then, (which I'll try to find), & parked it in the driveway of my parent's house. That night I got an offer from somebody to buy it for 1000.00 more than I bought it for. I didn't take it. Maybe I should've, but I'd been looking for quite a while for a decent 72 blazer & had FINALLY gotten it home.

My girlfriend at the time was like, "I'm NOT riding to prom in that thing!" and I said, "Well, then you better find another date, cause this is what I'm drivin'." By the time we'd gotten it cleaned up & everything though she loved it.

I've done a TON of work on it, but you'd never know by looking. Got new tires that first week, (31x10.50R15 no name AT's) what a difference in ride quality!! I personally rebuilt the motor, stripped & painted the interior, & had the top refinished within that first year of owning it. While the engine was out I stripped down the engine compartment & got it all painted red with black framerails. The exterior at that time was orange. The D/R quarter was all crushed in when I bought it, so I took it to a shop 40 miles away & he fixed it pretty decently. (Now you can see the weld seam from the outside, but it was done about ten years ago, can't complain too much)

Drove the crap out of it. Took it to college, (Texas Tech), & it was my DD. Now you know that in college you don't have a lot of time/money, but where there's a will there's a way! Had to get the transmission rebuilt, twice, first one was no good. Got all of my tools stolen out of it once in the parking lot, man I was pissed!! For graduation, my parents got me a new crate motor installed & a MAACO paint job, which is what you see here.

Moved to Las Cruces, NM to be closer to my fiance' & lived there for a year, had to get the trans re-built AGAIN!! Twice within 2 years. That's when I decided it needed an NV 4500, (it still does). Decided that the rear floor area was beyond repair so cut it all out & replaced it with 1/8" diamond plate steel at a friend's shop. Drove back to Lubbock where I worked during college & got a Perma-Tech liner sprayed into the interior. Saw an add on CK5 for the pop-up camper top you see here & went to Los Alamos to get it.

A year later, (Dec, 2000), we moved to Buffalo, NY. Immediately, the blazer started acting up, so I decided to re-wire the whole original rats nest with a custom wiring kit from American Autowire, with the fuseblock installed in a flip-down tray from a freightliner under the passenger's side of the dash. It's pretty trick, if I do say so myself.

And this is where we sit. The truck hasn't been started in over a year, I need to put a new steering box & finish up some of the loose ends of the wiring, not to mention that the rocker panels & fenders are rotting out just from the exposure to the elements here. It's sickening.

Well, I'm really tired of this truck just sitting in my yard rusting away. So, as a motivation tool, I've decided to take some pictures of it as it sits, and once a month take some more pictures to show current conditions & my progress.

Sorry for the long post, but I like to read stories about anybody's truck, so I thought I'd post my own.

Here are the pictures.


Blazer from Driver's Front


Driver's Side


Blazer Front


Driver's Side of Camper


Blazer from P/F


Blazer from P/R

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. Our driveway is practically a parking lot.

Later,

Buddy

[BUDDY]

Sorry, can we move this to the Blazer section?

Buddy

[Southedisto]

Nice blazer, good looking rig for camping and such.

[Yukon Jack]

Don't see the camper on those very often. Sweet K5!

[BUDDY]

Thanks, you guys. That's why I'm trying to get it going again. The small blazer next to it may be donating some parts, (ie, serp setup, TBI recalibrated of course, tow hooks, etc., etc.). The rest is probably going to the JY.

I've got a new steering box to put on it, need to work out the steering links, hi-steer arms, etc. gathering parts information for budget.

My goal is to have it running & driveable by the summer, let's say May 1.

It's not a TON of work, it's just a money issue. I actually have a little time that I could work on it right now, so I figure that I should.

Later,

Buddy