New 71 Blazer Owner

[JordanH]

My dad has been a member of this forum for a few years and now that I have my own project, instead of claiming his, I figured I would join. A few years ago I drug my dads 71 swb chevy out of the dirt where it had been sitting for years and pushed it into the shop. I wanted something to work on and something fun to drive. A few months later and a couple inches lower that old chev hit the streets. I drove that truck while I was dating the girl that I would later on marry. We had a lot of fun cruising around in that old truck and recently we've been keeping our eyes open for a project to call our own. A couple of months ago I was working on a lady's sprinklers and noticed an old chevy truck and a blazer sitting in the weeds in the backyard. Short version of the story is she didn't want to sell the 67 2wd step side because it had belonged to her husband that had recently passed away. The blazer however, I was able to pick up for $650 from her stepson. If I wouldn't have been able to get such a good deal I would have kept looking for a 71 or 72 shortbed. Now to the blazer, it's a 71 4x4 with a 350, air cab, disk brakes, and power steering. When I found it, it had been sitting for the last fifteen years. The owner I bought it from (who was the second owner) had laid it onto the passenger side while driving around out in the hills. Shortly after that he experienced problems with the carb and parked it where I later on found it. My dad knows the original owner and had even ridden in this blazer thirty some years ago. About two weeks ago he ran into the original owner who had changed the seats and carpet and painted the truck a reddish purple. He told my dad that he also had recently rebuilt the motor before he sold it twenty years ago.
Since I bought the non running blazer I emptied the bad gas, bolted on a new intake manifold and carb that my dad had leftover from other projects, changed the plugs, oil and coolant, and topped off the ATF. I found a slightly used set of 31s and mounted them on the set of rally wheels that I painted which came with the truck. I also replaced the smashed in passenger fender and wheel well with a fender that was the same medium olive as the blazer used to be. Yesterday we took the top off and the blazer runs and drives great! I still have a lot to work on (RUST, mashed passenger quarter panel) but it sure has been a good little project.

[Clyde65]

Welcome and cool story!