98 2-Door Tahoe 4WD

[IRQVET]

So in high school I always wanted one of two trucks, a 67-72 Blazer, and/or a 1996-1999 Tahoe 2-Door. Back in 2008 I came across a Craiglists ad that seemed to good to be true. A single owner, fully loaded, 98 Tahoe with 71,000 miles for $5,000. (It was booking for almost double that at the time) I thought it was a scam, a salvage, or worse; but I had to call and check it out. As it turned out, the original owner was a wealthy guy in his late 60's and he wanted to sell it because it was too hard on his back to haul the grandkids in/out of the back seat of a 2-door.

Originally he custom ordered the Tahoe with every single available option available and paid $51,000 when it was new. I ran the vin through the GM database to see how many like it were ever build, and there was only one!

The owner was pretty well off so he just bought another new Tahoe and parked the 98 2 Door until his wife was, "I'm sick of looking at it" so he put it on Craigslist. I stumbled across the ad only a few hours after he posted it, and it was so clean, I was in disbelief. He added so ugly after market rims and that was its only flaw. I drove two hours to get to him in Sacramento foothills and I snatched it up.

4 Days after I bought it, I was driving 25 MPH through my neighborhood when the driveline snapped! I remember thinking, "Oh crap, I bought a lemon." I fixed the driveline and drove it another 100,000 miles without any issues and this rig has been bullet proof.

Unfortunately, on the 4th of July I was driving on the freeway near Carson City Nevada in triple degree heat when my radiator cap failed and my Tahoe suffered what can only be described as a "Thermal event" resulting in a cracked block.

Because my rig has been a very reliable daily driver for so long, and because I got her for so cheap, it was a no brainer to drop a crate engine into her and continue enjoying this truck.

For anyone keeping score, I started with a bone stock 98 Tahoe 2-Door with hideous aftermarket rims. Since I've owned it, I've added a two inch lift, 16 inch Mickey Thompson rims, 33's Goodyear Duratracs, and a 3 chamber flow master muffler. But now, I have a brand new GM crate engine that I decided to have painted in Hanger Orange as a nod to history.

All in all, I just love this truck. Its funny because no matter where I go, it turns heads. Even classic Chevy guys seemed impressed when I'm driving to car shows (as a spectator) . It just goes to show how these trucks will be the future classics moving forward . . .