Ratchet's Blazer - 1970 2wd with Original paint

[smbrouss70]

I have been wanting a 1st Gen. 2wd Blazer since before I got my license. At the time I had my Grandpa's 68 C-10 and figured I would never sell it though. I did sell it while I was in the Army, so after I came back home I decided to start looking for a Blazer. Trucks are way easier to find around here so I picked up a 1970 C-10 and started doing the usual stuff. I did end up buying a 1970 2wd Blazer body with a title, but that project hasn't ever seemed to get off of the ground. Then the C-10 build got serious and I tore it apart to start building my ultimate vision of a truck. It was 5 years ago that I was able to drive it last.

Hanging out with all of my Louisiana Classic Truck Club buddies, I really started missing having something classic to drive. While driving to work in Texas one day I spotted a 72 4x4 Blazer for sale on the side of the road, so I stopped in to take a look and post it up to see if anyone else was interested in it. My loving wife, who knew how much I've always wanted a Blazer, told me that she wanted it for herself, knowing that she just convinced me to spend the money and not talk myself out of it.

I brought the 72 home and devised a plan to convert it to a 2wd using a SWB truck frame, so I began collecting parts. Now that I have just about everything that I need, we make a trip to the Pate Swap Meet this past week and as I rounded the corner, I saw it. An original paint, unmolested 1970 2wd Blazer 350/4-speed with what looks like only 73,000 miles! I couldn't believe that it hadn't sold by then, but later realized that the guy had just gotten it out of an enclosed trailer, I may have been the first person to see it. I asked him what he wanted for it and was amazed that it was affordable, I immediately called the wife and told her to run to the spot that I was at, I also called a painter buddy and had him meet me there also. Within minutes, I was handing over a 20% deposit to hold it for me until I could get more cash out of the bank. I had no intentions of buying a vehicle there, so only brought enough money for parts shopping.

The next morning, I thought I had dreamed that I found the Blazer, so I asked one of my friends if it was real. He replied that he heard it run, so unless we had the same dream it was definitely real.

After spending 5 times what I had planned to spend that weekend, I promised my wife that I wouldn't buy anything else for the remaining days that we would be there, although she bought the Blazer a nice cup-holder console that it needed. I love that woman!

We were camping at the swap meet and I had pulled our 5th wheel over there not intending to have to trailer anything back, so I had to lean on a couple of friends to get the Blazer back home. One of them brought it to his house (a little more than half-way to my house), and another one is picking up the Blazer right after lunch today to bring it the rest of the way home. I can't thank Barry & Chris enough for helping me out.

In the little bit of time that I have had with the Blazer before it left Pate, we found a few things that need to be fixed fairly soon, like body mounts to get the doors lining up correctly again, and a vent hose on the fuel tank. It had some old fuel in it that we believe is causing it to mis-fire while under a load so I need to drain the tank, start with fresh fuel, and go from there. I didn't even remember to take a bunch of pictures before it left.

The plans for this one is to keep it as simple as possible so that it doesn't become a huge project like my truck and end up spending too much time just sitting. I will drop it using an Early Classic 4-6 drop and put on the 17" Ansen slots that I ordered for the other Blazer. I have a set of front buckets that have new foam and seat covers for them that are going in here as well as a rear seat that needs to be recovered. Other than that I will DRIVE it, like what is supposed to happen! It won't be a big build but I hope you enjoy it anyway... I sure will!

BTW, Ratchet is my English Bulldog mix, as you can tell from the last picture he has made the Blazer his.