Cheap rusty project truck vs clean project truck

[underliner6]

I was told the truck was bought new at Russ Lyons Dealer in Boulder, CO. Still has the dealer decal from them too. From my research the dealer was in business from 1962-1972 and was a Toyota/ Chevy dealer. The truck needs saved as it has pretty impressive options including a Hickey T-Case and gas tank skid as well as a Hickey rear tire carrier. Sadly the interior is gutted as well as the door panels.

And yes it’s a Blazer... I posted in this forum to get more exposure.

[BigBird05]

The "rusty" truck looks more like a parts truck than a fixer upper.

[Mike C]

Cool options on that Blazer. Living in AZ I would suggest buying a cleaner truck, but when it comes to Blazers you can’t be quite as picky. Missing interior on a Blazer can cost a boat-load of money. More than the $3k difference on the two trucks you are looking at depending. Keep that in mine.

[special-K]

Originally Posted by underliner6

I was told the truck was bought new at Russ Lyons Dealer in Boulder, CO. Still has the dealer decal from them too. From my research the dealer was in business from 1962-1972 and was a Toyota/ Chevy dealer. The truck needs saved as it has pretty impressive options including a Hickey T-Case and gas tank skid as well as a Hickey rear tire carrier. Sadly the interior is gutted as well as the door panels.

And yes it’s a Blazer... I posted in this forum to get more exposure.

Well, maybe it was bought in CO, went to the rust belt a couple decades, and returned. I had a '72 Blazer I bought in Virginia that came from New Mexico. People from out in the arid states don't know squat about how things can rust or take it for granted. Just something they heard about. There is the rust you get out there and the rust you get back east, like two different species.

The Blazer I owned only had a little rust at the lower front of the quarters, typical. It was also chock full of period off road accessories that people these days like to call Hickey no matter what company they came from. Mine had a Desert Dynamics sticker on the glovebox door. There stuff should be more valuable than Hickey since it seems to be so rare no one comes up with any of their parts. I had a treasure trove... skid plates, roll bar, lockable steel console, dual aux fuel tanks, swing away tire/jerry can mount, and 5 chrome reverse wheels. I drove it a little that summer, then wouldn't start, no fuel out of pump. New pump did nothing. Then I noticed the grass under the rear was dead and smell of gas. I also noticed it had Assateague Island beach vehicle permits on the bumper. From running on the beach there was salt laden sand packed between the tank and skid plate that caused the rotted tank bottom. I had actually bought the Blazer for a TH350/NP205 swap into my Blazer with 3spd, so I never fixed it and did the swap.

It sat as a parts Blazer for years. And even though I had washed it all up and flushed out the underside, just the moisture in the air fed that salt impregnated sheetmetal and literally ate that thing up front the bottom working it's way up. By the time I junked it the quarters were missing their bottom half. The hood was latched but the skin rotted around the bottom and opened itself leaving the under support latched. The top was keeping the body together. The rust on that thing looked like the rust on the one you are considering. The skid plate I had laying in the back literally disintegrated. That thing was a clean original paint NM Blazer, but for a little typical quarter rust beginning. That salt continued to eat on that thing even though it never saw salt after I had it and had washed it very thoroughly several times while sitting, trying to preserve it for parts

I also had a painter on a job who had a cool '70 with soft top. He had all the rust repaired and it looked really good. He didn't winter drive it after the restoration. But when you looked close you could see paint bubbling where all the repairs were made. He was so disgusted over it he offered it to me for $1000. It was very tempting but I knew what laid ahead and ended up not buying it. It would have rotted out even if it never saw rain again

This Blazer has had it's rust repaired once, when it was painted silver over the medium olive. I wonder how they handled painting around that dealer emblem. Is it silver between the letters? I see the trim wasn't removed when painted.

The green one was from Pennsylvania and was garage kept/never saw salt

[underliner6]

That’s a damn shame your parts blazer couldn’t be saved from the damage already done. Sometimes it seems these coastal trucks exposed to the sea air can be just as rusty as those damaged from winter roads. I know nothing about the repaint of the Blazer.

To derail my own thread, the gentleman who owned the blazer also had a Crew Cab K20. I had never seen such a conversion that did not involve a suburban body. Apparently it was a conversion by Scott-Bilt. The owner said it costs about 10k in 1969 to have a truck converted to a crew. That’s a lot of money for 69! He also said their were few K trucks converted like this. Interesting as I had never heard of these conversions before.

[64longbedcustom]

Just picked up a 72 C20. Quite rusty but I want to learn how to cut and weld so its going to be a learning tool. Frame looks solid. Was a one family owned truck. We will see how it goes.

[KevinK7]

Originally Posted by underliner6

. Interesting as I had never heard of these conversions before.

...I can say I sure haven't seen that conversion either, ...if I had, I would not have suspected it was something done back in the day. Pretty odd/cool looking truck

[special-K]

There were a few that did that style, as well as others who did extended cabs with no extra doors and generic windows

[57taskforce]

Originally Posted by special-K

Well, maybe it was bought in CO, went to the rust belt a couple decades, and returned. I had a '72 Blazer I bought in Virginia that came from New Mexico. People from out in the arid states don't know squat about how things can rust or take it for granted. Just something they heard about. There is the rust you get out there and the rust you get back east, like two different species.

The Blazer I owned only had a little rust at the lower front of the quarters, typical. It was also chock full of period off road accessories that people these days like to call Hickey no matter what company they came from. Mine had a Desert Dynamics sticker on the glovebox door. There stuff should be more valuable than Hickey since it seems to be so rare no one comes up with any of their parts. I had a treasure trove... skid plates, roll bar, lockable steel console, dual aux fuel tanks, swing away tire/jerry can mount, and 5 chrome reverse wheels. I drove it a little that summer, then wouldn't start, no fuel out of pump. New pump did nothing. Then I noticed the grass under the rear was dead and smell of gas. I also noticed it had Assateague Island beach vehicle permits on the bumper. From running on the beach there was salt laden sand packed between the tank and skid plate that caused the rotted tank bottom. I had actually bought the Blazer for a TH350/NP205 swap into my Blazer with 3spd, so I never fixed it and did the swap.

It sat as a parts Blazer for years. And even though I had washed it all up and flushed out the underside, just the moisture in the air fed that salt impregnated sheetmetal and literally ate that thing up front the bottom working it's way up. By the time I junked it the quarters were missing their bottom half. The hood was latched but the skin rotted around the bottom and opened itself leaving the under support latched. The top was keeping the body together. The rust on that thing looked like the rust on the one you are considering. The skid plate I had laying in the back literally disintegrated. That thing was a clean original paint NM Blazer, but for a little typical quarter rust beginning. That salt continued to eat on that thing even though it never saw salt after I had it and had washed it very thoroughly several times while sitting, trying to preserve it for parts

I also had a painter on a job who had a cool '70 with soft top. He had all the rust repaired and it looked really good. He didn't winter drive it after the restoration. But when you looked close you could see paint bubbling where all the repairs were made. He was so disgusted over it he offered it to me for $1000. It was very tempting but I knew what laid ahead and ended up not buying it. It would have rotted out even if it never saw rain again

This Blazer has had it's rust repaired once, when it was painted silver over the medium olive. I wonder how they handled painting around that dealer emblem. Is it silver between the letters? I see the trim wasn't removed when painted.

The green one was from Pennsylvania and was garage kept/never saw salt

Your right about that Tim. Most people out here have never seen real rust. Cab corners and rockers are about as bad as most get out here. My truck was rotting the floors from the inside out because of a couple inches of dirt that held water from a leaking cowl seam. When I first started tearing into the metal work a few friends came by from time to time and couldn’t believe I didnt do a cab swap because the rot was “so bad”. All I could say was if you think this is bad you ain’t seen nothin. My 3100 was a million times worse than my K20. The 57 spent most of its life between Stephens City and Winchester so it got its fair share of the humid air and salt thru the years. It’s been working on 15 years since my dad and I did the metal work on it and still no rust. Dry desert air certainly doesn’t hurt.