AM I wrong in being disappointed?

[special-K]

You should be disappointed in the vehicle if you were led to believe it was in better shape than it actually is. You should be disappointed in the seller for telling you something you based your decision on and that wasn't so. And, you should be disappointed in yourself for not inspecting or having it inspected. Also, since there was no inspection, you should be disappointed that you didn't ask for specific pictures of areas of concern and ask more specific questions. The first places you looked when it arrived. A lot was taken for granted for spending $25Gs. Personally, I find that hard to fathom. I could never pay that kind of money without seeing the vehicle and driving it, or paying someone else to. We see what we want to see and talk ourselves into wanting a vehicle based on how many pictures? And that tells nothing of mechanical condition. You had a whole budgeted plan for the Blazer assuming it needed nothing, or not much. What was that based on? I find fault in the seller for taking the low road through this whole thing. The thing is, the way he handled it was nothing uncommon. Integrity is at a low these days and it's no secret. You could have used better luck on this sale and it didn't come. I feel bad for what happened. I had it happen to me for $5k and I worked through it to end up happy to own the truck. I'm just glad I didn't try to drive it back from Colorado like I told the seller, who told me "Drive anywhere", I intended to do. I don't know how people can put money above their own being and worth.

[dmjlambert]

It's not that bad! It's beautiful although imperfect. Drive it and enjoy. Show it off. To heck with the bondo, nobody will notice it. Do some chants, meditate on it, take a long walk in the woods, go fishing, buy a cowboy hat, or do whatever it takes to turn that frown upside down! The deal is done, trying to give you encouragement here. The value, rarity, and beauty of that truck is going nowhere but up.

['63GENIII]

Kind of a similar thing happened when I bought the '63.

I had just bought a '64 K truck that was rotten in every conceivable place. Wife wasn't happy. Only thing left from that truck is the front axle that's now in the '63.

I then bought a '62 sight unseen. Turned out to be a very poor body swap onto an old burb frame. I didn't even tell the wife about that one 'til a year later.

Then there was the '63.Up in Oregon South of Portland. Had sent a deposit of 3k on the truck. I got there and there was way more repair needed than I was led to believe. No plane ticket and no refund of deposit possible, it took near 24 hrs to make it to Redding, where I'd be trailered the remaining 6 hours home.

In the end, after getting through the whole "selling the milk cow for some magic beans" thing with the Wife, I set about turning a few wrenches on the neglected old truck. Really didn't even like it so much anymore but I had to get it running and at least out of the driveway.

Fast forward, 12 years. I really dig the truck now. I still have odds and ends to finish but fairly sure that there will always be something to do on it. Wife and kids consider it as part of the family (kinda like an ugly, but lovable dog) and two of my kids argue about which one Im gonna give it to when I die. (That was a kind of crappy conversation to overhear )

My point is, while I was sitting in the bed, getting sunbaked in a Redding gas station just after buying it, trying to figure out how I was going to tell the Wife that I just dropped a bunch of scratch on a lemon, I was seriously thinking of just leaving the damn thing there and setting it on fire - Now, I can't really bear the thought of selling it. Its only taken me 12 years to get to this point .

Hopefully you can have some good come out the deal one way or another.

[Thealien]

Thanks to all that have responded and confirmed by a large majority that this is NOT considered rust free.

And for the most part thanks for not being to hard on me for being an idiot, trust me I am beating myself up pretty bad. Between my shoulders and father I am pretty down in the dumps and just looking for some joy! Many have reached out with supportive PMs and it helps.

I really am underwater on this and wish someone would step up and buy this. The person who would potentially do the rust repairs can not look at it for 2-3 weeks to see the true extent of the rot and his estimate of cost to repair, he works by the hour so it is just an estimate.

I am going to place a want to buy rust free Blazer doors as that could save a couple of days labor. If anyone has a set please reach out to me however you wish. He refuses to use reproduction doors but said he can repair the doors. Depending on how bad it can be 1-2 days per door.

Thanks again
Mark

[67ChevyRedneck]

I've had buyers remorse after almost every old thing I've bought. I always feel like I paid too much, and this is after I looked it over thoroughly. I overpaid for my 65 Mustang, because it was a "coupe", but dang it, it was legit rust free. I definitely overpaid for my 68 firebird. It ran crappy when I bought it (OHC 6 car) and I thought the guy selling it was a dope, so I figured I could straighten it out. Turned out the head was rebuilt wrong and it was only building full compression in 3 cylinders. The other 3 were half dead. What do you do at that point? Insist on a compression test? Again, another car I bought because of how legitimately rust free it is, my long term plan was a 400 clone anyway, but I wanted to drive it a bit, you know? But the cost of rebuilding the rare OHC 6 - and just finding someone to do it, is Pontiac 400 money...

I've looked at your for sale ad. I have to agree with Fine 69, as far as Blazers go, it appears to be "solid" overall. Rust free.... no. Solid, yea.

I've read you want to do a repaint and an LS swap anyway? This blazer appears to be original, as in no boogered up previous repairs, just some bondo over what appears to be pretty minor rust. This is a game of devils advocate, would you rather have this blazer to rebuild or buy another one that appears to have been done right, only to find there's welded in panels everywhere, or all aftermarket metal?

I'd inspect the piss out of everything you have. Remove door panels and everything with access and look inside all of the panels. Look for rust, dents, and holes covered up with bondo. If it appears to be mostly cosmetic stuff, I'd build the blazer you have, because the next one could appear to be better, only to find worse.

I like the avatar pic... I get it... you're upside down on the blazer

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

I've had buyers remorse after almost every old thing I've bought. I always feel like I paid too much, and this is after I looked it over thoroughly. I overpaid for my 65 Mustang, because it was a "coupe", but dang it, it was legit rust free. I definitely overpaid for my 68 firebird. It ran crappy when I bought it (OHC 6 car) and I thought the guy selling it was a dope, so I figured I could straighten it out. Turned out the head was rebuilt wrong and it was only building full compression in 3 cylinders. The other 3 were half dead. What do you do at that point? Insist on a compression test? Again, another car I bought because of how legitimately rust free it is, my long term plan was a 400 clone anyway, but I wanted to drive it a bit, you know? But the cost of rebuilding the rare OHC 6 - and just finding someone to do it, is Pontiac 400 money...

I've looked at your for sale ad. I have to agree with Fine 69, as far as Blazers go, it appears to be "solid" overall. Rust free.... no. Solid, yea.

I've read you want to do a repaint and an LS swap anyway? This blazer appears to be original, as in no boogered up previous repairs, just some bondo over what appears to be pretty minor rust. This is a game of devils advocate, would you rather have this blazer to rebuild or buy another one that appears to have been done right, only to find there's welded in panels everywhere, or all aftermarket metal?

I'd inspect the piss out of everything you have. Remove door panels and everything with access and look inside all of the panels. Look for rust, dents, and holes covered up with bondo. If it appears to be mostly cosmetic stuff, I'd build the blazer you have, because the next one could appear to be better, only to find worse.

I like the avatar pic... I get it... you're upside down on the blazer
I was wondering if anyone would get that?

I really can not argue with anything you have said. But if even 1/4 of the issues were disclosed I would have passed, no hard feelings. I was telling the seller I was planning on doing an LS swap and he said you won't want to it runs so good! Took 30 minutes trying to get it off the car carrier as it kept stalling. If it was a factory AC rust free cab with all the other issues without an engine I would have bought it.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Oh, I don't disagree at all, I would have passed as well at that price point.

I think my main point was now that you have it, and you know you'll lose 7-8K? (with all your costs so far) reselling it, if building a blazer is what you really want to do, forget about that initial price, it's gone, and take a good look at what you have left, it might make sense to just build it like you want.

The avatar pic bothered me at first, because my brain was like... that's wrong... must... be... fixed... but then I realized what it was

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by 67ChevyRedneck

Oh, I don't disagree at all, I would have passed as well at that price point.


The avatar pic bothered me at first, because my brain was like... that's wrong... must... be... fixed... but then I realized what it was

The website wasn't letting me do it either. Kept flipping it right side up. Had to do it a few times. I thought it was appropriate?

[morepwr]

I would be more likely to give a pass to the kick panel areas if the carpet had been glued down like it appears to have been and the guy you bought it from never pulled it back to look. But if the carpet was already pulled off then it was a lie as it obviously needs some work done. I would not give a pass to the fender that has obviously been covered in Bondo over rust though.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by morepwr

I would be more likely to give a pass to the kick panel areas if the carpet had been glued down like it appears to have been and the guy you bought it from never pulled it back to look. But if the carpet was already pulled off then it was a lie as it obviously needs some work done. I would not give a pass to the fender that has obviously been covered in Bondo over rust though.

There were no door sills. The passenger side rocker that half the length is rotted away was what I saw first. All you had to do was open the door and look. Didn't have to peel the carpet away or unscrew a door sill. Clearly visible and unhidden.

Then there is the 1/2 inch thick bondo on the bottom of both doors for the length of both doors. Again all you had to do was open the door.

[FleetsidePaul]

Originally Posted by Thealien

The website wasn't letting me do it either. Kept flipping it right side up. Had to do it a few times. I thought it was appropriate?

You got me on that one. I was thinking "Why is his avatar upside down"

Then I read your story and the dim bulb in my head went off. Very clever.

[Liz]

Maybe a review forum post?

[Killer Bee]

Originally Posted by Liz

Maybe a review forum post?

why not activate itrader ratings here?

[Tom]

As far as AZ is concerned, thats a rusted out pile of garbage.

I work for a high end used car dealer. It amazes me how often the convo goes something like this:
Them- "I'd like to buy your 100k ferrari"
Us- "awesome. Wanna get it inspected? We aren't a repair shop. We don't promise anything and recommend inspections by a shop before purchase"
Them "nah, I totally trust you. Im sure its perfect even though its 15yrs old and a pile of crap Ferrari. Here's a bunch of money now ship it to somewhere really far away from you"

[67C10Step]

I've read through this whole thread and here is my worthless opinion:

1. I don't think you are wrong in being disappointed.
2. You were wrong to purchase without some sort of inspection.
3. Seller was wrong and possibly even a bit deceptive in his description and presentation.
4. You have a pretty decent blazer that is worth saving, or at least getting that terrible paint job changed!

I realize this may have spoiled your attitude toward this machine but you may want to stew on it a bit. As was stated here, you might spend a lot of time and money finding a better place to start.

[mongocanfly]

I've been reading thru this several times letting it soak in...
You were misled and Your right to be disappointed...and you've blamed yourself
All which are true..
Your willing to take a hit on it as well..

But you already had a paint budget...if you take that paint budget and add what your willing to lose by selling it, how close would that get you to getting it fixed!? 15k+??
Add to that how much over the 25k you already spent, that you would spend on another blazer..you may close to fixing what you got..then what you buy may not be much better than what you've already got..
If you spent 30k to buy another, add that extra 5k to your 15k and your around 20k ...would that fix it?

My C30 was advertised as rust free..but I stuck a screwdriver into the door post..
My IH was also advertised as rust free...I also stuck a screw driver thru the door post on it...
I fixed both and moved on, and am happy now...
If would be near impossible to find a untouched rust free blazer of those yrs...especially in that price range...
thing is it looks fixable..but I'd let your body man make that call
You had a fairly large budget for all the different things you wanted done...maybe theres some things you could do without and move that money to the body fund...

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

I've been reading thru this several times letting it soak in...
You were misled and Your right to be disappointed...and you've blamed yourself
All which are true..
Your willing to take a hit on it as well..

But you already had a paint budget...if you take that paint budget and add what your willing to lose by selling it, how close would that get you to getting it fixed!? 15k+??
Add to that how much over the 25k you already spent, that you would spend on another blazer..you may close to fixing what you got..then what you buy may not be much better than what you've already got..
If you spent 30k to buy another, add that extra 5k to your 15k and your around 20k ...would that fix it?

My C30 was advertised as rust free..but I stuck a screwdriver into the door post..
My IH was also advertised as rust free...I also stuck a screw driver thru the door post on it...
I fixed both and moved on, and am happy now...
If would be near impossible to find a untouched rust free blazer of those yrs...especially in that price range...
thing is it looks fixable..but I'd let your body man make that call
You had a fairly large budget for all the different things you wanted done...maybe theres some things you could do without and move that money to the body fund...

I would also like to mention over 10 years ago I did an LS swap on my 1972 Jimmy 4 X 4 probably one of the earliest 4 X 4 LS swaps documented on this site. I did 90% of the work on that one and it cost me about $10,000 in parts to get it finished.

So far 2 businesses have been talked to, one looked at it yesterday, the other in a couple of weeks. They are both saying $10,000 to get ready for paint (fixing rust, the abortion of a fuel fill, found additional rust in cowl, front fender horn (I really want a 1968 front clip, might not be able to but with 1 fender rusted, rust on radiator support, cracked grill needing replacement it "might" be equal, lots of bondo in the quarters) and this is not including the doors (which I am trying to buy replacements because the repair would most likely cost more than my estimate of $1,000 for 2 doors) or "surprises" (which there will be). So my $10,000 paint job on my rust free truck is now $20,000+. I might be able to find someone to save me a couple thousand but if I am going to do it I would like to do it right.

The whole fuel fill (need the fuel fill and vent pipes that go through floor, hope someone has a nice used set) and gas tank needs work (gas tank needs replaced, hanging down and wet all over).

No seatbelts even though was told he thought the front ones were blue

Front grill cracked and missing drivers trim ring. Not shown in any pictures.

Horn doesn't work

No carpet strips or door sills. Between door panels, rear panels, top panel strips, panel stand offs, bed to tailgate seals, window fuzzies and sweeps I bet there is a couple thousand+ in parts without doing carpet and seats!

Tach and fuel guage don't work and not sure of the rest, it's ubdriveable and unable to pass inspection. I know with an LS swap I would need an electric speedometer but the rest of the gauges need to work with either engine ($600)

I was hoping to drive this year and start after summer. I am not going to put anything into making it road worthy but all the other stuff is already being reduced due to all the above not including the double paint job cost!

$25,000 blazer
$20,000 paint (most likely to increase)
$10,000 suspension installed including brakes, I don't think its possible to buy all the parts for $10,000 let alone installed. Not talking Heidt or QA1 either!
$10,000 LS swap (was going 6.0 now probably older 5.3) And I don't think by the time you do radiator, gas tank, harness, driveshaft, harness I still don't think this is possible. Probably still closer to my original $15,000
---------------------------------------------------------------
$65,000 Probably closer to $75,000 with the above overages expected without any interior, wheels,gauge cluster and all the nickel and dime stuff that adds up like carpet strips etc! I will probably have to use the ugly blue seats and just the painted floors if I can get it done to that point within the above estimates. So $75,000 without an interior and cutting some corners. It would be a sweet Blazer at that point but there are some damn nice vehicles in that price range!

[mongocanfly]

id have to agree..for 75k you shouldnt have to do anything..
tis kinda reminds me of a 72 k5 i bought back in the early 80s...i was a kid and didnt know any better
it looked good and for $2300, i just had to have it...not long after i got it the paint started bubbling on the rear quarters..it was all blue so i thought id make it a 2 tone blue and white...i dug into the bubbled paint and found bondo about a inch thick , ground that out and it looked like somebody had shot it with buckshot...i fixed that and then decided to change out the carpet ...thats when i found out it had plywood floorboards...that thing nickeled and dimed me to death...wound up selling it for $900 and was proud to see it go...

[Andy4639]

We all have that one story at least once in our life. Don't let it dictate your life though. Either sell it are fix it. Main thing is learn from it.

If you fix it look at it as a learning process. How to fix it.

If you sell it, make it a process to tell other's how to learn from your mistake. Show them the problems with it and be honest about it. Learn from it.

We all have been here.

[Liz]

Originally Posted by Killer Bee

why not activate itrader ratings here?

PM Josh and ask?
For now use the system we have in place.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by Andy4639

We all have that one story at least once in our life. Don't let it dictate your life though. Either sell it are fix it. Main thing is learn from it.

If you fix it look at it as a learning process. How to fix it.

If you sell it, make it a process to tell other's how to learn from your mistake. Show them the problems with it and be honest about it. Learn from it.

We all have been here.

Kind of what I am trying to do. Whether I keep or sell there are lessons to be learned here. I learned that lesson once 20 years ago, guess it was time to learn again!

[72 tigger]

I respect you for taking responsibility and being honest with a potential buyer, you have real integrity which is more than l can say about the deceptive seller. I always wonder in situations like this what the seller thinks or feels when he reads a thread about himself which casts him as crook? Does he lose any sleep? Feel any guilt? Sorry about your situation

[old Rusty C10]

perhaps the seller should be called out so that he can air what he said.. I am sure that the OP is airing his side of the story, but ive been told there are three sides to every story Party 1 Party 2 and the truth. I have seen these scenarios play out many times even on this board ( story comes to mind about a hack body guy in NC and a Buyer in MA maybe 10 years back).. I FULLY agree that the OP has every right to be disappointed but I would like to hear like Paul Harvey said "the rest of the story"

[geezer#99]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

perhaps the seller should be called out so that he can air what he said.. I am sure that the OP is airing his side of the story, but ive been told there are three sides to every story Party 1 Party 2 and the truth. I have seen these scenarios play out many times even on this board ( story comes to mind about a hack body guy in NC and a Buyer in MA maybe 10 years back).. I FULLY agree that the OP has every right to be disappointed but I would like to hear like Paul Harvey said "the rest of the story"

He hasn’t logged on for over 6 months so that’s likely a dead end.

[Thealien]

Originally Posted by old Rusty C10

perhaps the seller should be called out so that he can air what he said.. I am sure that the OP is airing his side of the story, but ive been told there are three sides to every story Party 1 Party 2 and the truth. I have seen these scenarios play out many times even on this board ( story comes to mind about a hack body guy in NC and a Buyer in MA maybe 10 years back).. I FULLY agree that the OP has every right to be disappointed but I would like to hear like Paul Harvey said "the rest of the story"

He said what I quoted him saying in the original post even though I edited out his username. Pretty easy to find in my want to buy add with the pictures of the Blazer? Do a search for my original want to buy add. Its in his own words, I have said it is my fault more than once.