without starting a war..what the differance

[oldschool18]

OK I'll start by saying I dont want this thread to get out of hand I got a simple Idea and not sure what the big deal is.......I always wanted a 69-72 Blazer just because I could make it a full convertible, and then I thought what else I would do with it and that would be to slam it, great sound system, maybe body drop it, lay the windshield back and chop it down and make pretty custom is the view i was heading in.......Now I have a 70 2wd lwb which I love the lwb trucks lowered I think they look sleeker than a short box.......and I was thinking why cant I just make the truck a convertible keep the long bed and have more room in the bed to do some cool stuff i was thinking about......My point is if a take a blazer and chop the windshield and I cut it all up and the top doest work anymore or I have a truck that the top is cut off and is cut up.......if i screw the cab up which I think it will be very well planned since I did it once before with a mazda truck when i was just a ladd...I can always get a new cab and the truck is back to normal but if i chop a blazer then I have to either replace the whole blazer tub or recustruct the windshield assembly...and i aready have the truck its not it good shape but its not completely terrible...........just wondering what some of you thought I know some off you hate this idea but i dont know what the differance is between chopping a blazer or a truck is..

[jocko]

well, if you're wanting a "roadster" then a Blazer would be an easier starting point (but you'd never sleep well at night knowing you're removing one more old original Blazer from the planet...) You're right - this idea probably chaps a lot of folks, and I'd normally be one of them - but, it's your money, and your idea, you can do whatever you like - that is what's great about old cars and trucks. I look at it this way, what you just described wouldn't look much more radical or wild than some of the crazy, oops, I'm sorry.. Krazy... stuff George Barris and RF used to do. So, if you like it, go for it. From your description, seems the Blazer would be the logical starting point, lean the windshield and you're halfway there. But if you must have a long bed to play in, well, then you're gonna have to do some cab cuttin.

Oh, who am I kidding - I'm BEGGIN ya, DON'T DO IT!!!! Save the whales!!!

[oldschool18]

Jocko.....is a whale a blazer or a truck

[leddzepp]

this is a huge undertaking, you need to know what you are doing as this is how a lot of vehicles end up in the junkyard.
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[oldschool18]

I don't see it being that hard I wasn't planning on having a walk thru bed like a blazer just a hard cover of some kind for the bed A couple braces and some welding. My father is a mechanic and has been in business for 40 years I pretty much grew up in a garage. And I have been doing crazy custom stuff for years. The Q? I was asking was why is it ok to chop a blazer up to make a roadster of you want to call it that and it's not ok to do it to a truck....... Atleast from what I read in the past it's very Taboo to talk about cutting the roof of off a truck
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[mustardjimmy71]

ok heres what you do, get a sawzall, and grinder with some zip cut wheels, enough beer so you wont run out, a sharpie, and some safety glasses. Now the hard part, take the time and money you think it will take to complete and multiply it by the snowball factor of 10

[OARNGESI]

A longbed with a chopped off top will seem super long

there was some pics a while back where someone took a lwb parts truck chopped the top then shortened the whole thing to blazer length abd had a nice roadster blazer lookalike.

[special-K]

I believe the question is not whether we'd like it,do it,how we think it would look,or anything other than if it's a better idea to chop a pickup to make what "he wants" than a Blazer. My answer is I think this is a good way to go. One: it doesn't chop up a Blazer,which is far harder to find and more valuable and two: a truck could be reversed. If you are customizing you don't need to start with a Blazer. You are eliminating the use of the top anyway. For those who don't like anything longbed,consider you could create the exact same vehicle as a Blazer Speedster with a longbed pickup by shortening. I think it's a smarter idea than all the shortbeds created with shortened longbeds. You can buy a shortbed...they made those. If you want a Blazer Speedster you have to make it...they didn't make those. And,the result will be something custom,not something you could buy off the shelf,which gives all the "extra" work a purpose.

[67ChevyRedneck]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

I don't see it being that hard I wasn't planning on having a walk thru bed like a blazer just a hard cover of some kind for the bed A couple braces and some welding. My father is a mechanic and has been in business for 40 years I pretty much grew up in a garage. And I have been doing crazy custom stuff for years. The Q? I was asking was why is it ok to chop a blazer up to make a roadster of you want to call it that and it's not ok to do it to a truck....... Atleast from what I read in the past it's very Taboo to talk about cutting the roof of off a truck
Posted via Mobile Device

I don't think I quite understand... you're not actually chopping up a blazer to make it into a roadster... you just remove the whole factory removable top... then put it back on? If you're refering to people who lay back the windshield, smooth off the top of the rails, etc. to make it a permanent roadster, I guess my answer would be that people don't mind because thats how it kinda looks with the top off anyway.

Why isn't it OK to do it to a truck? It's not that it's not OK, it's just that the majority of people (been discussed here many times before) don't like how it looks.

A blazer is a one piece two door vehicle that was propotioned to look asthetically pleasing with the top on and off. A truck just looks weird because we're not used to seeing one like that. It's all about style and taste.

As far as cutting up a blazer to make a truck into a roadster... why not just use the blazer as a blazer. Remove the top and enjoy the sun? Put it back on when it's cold or rainy out

[MrGoodpliers]

I have been thinking about the same thing with a 64-66 truck. Use a short bed, cut the roof and back of the cab off and weld the jambs to the bed. Slide a later model blazer frame under it, add some rocker boxes and make it look like a factory produced blazer.

[PanelDeland]

Check out 5150's Blazer.It's what you get when you do a blazer like you mentioned.IIRC it's for sale if it hasn't sold.My personal opinion is that you should build what you want.I don't think anyone should cut up a rare truck or a survivor to build a custom.If you're doing that much work use something that isn't saveable otherwise. Just my 0.02

[oldschool18]

Special K thats what Im talking about....and if I would go the truck route I would look for anouther cab just to have it. 67chevyredneck I got a 91 blazer for when its snowing and raining I want something for those nice sunny days weather or not its a blazer or a truck it will be cool and custom. Mrgoodpliers I wish it was that easy.... you either got to put body mounts under the bed or you got to remove the body mounts from under the cab......Paneldeland you make a good point, I could find a cab with a bad roof and a bad floor and maybe the top of the winshield frame is gone and that would be ok cause I would be redoing all of that anyway and I could save my cab so if down the road i would sell i could sell the cab with it......

[tubbedII]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

I don't see it being that hard I wasn't planning on having a walk thru bed like a blazer just a hard cover of some kind for the bed A couple braces and some welding.

Given you're not trying to make it a walk through, I think you're right about how little of work it actually is. I think it would be much cooler if it was a walk-through though...now that would be A LOT of work with careful planning.

If you think a laid out lwb with no top looks cool...then do it! I can say I've never seen one at least. My only concern would be...does the lwb fit in your garage/cover for the rainy season?

[chiefcfd]

I am doing this as we speak. It is drivable at this time. Need to finish body work and paint. It does get a few stares on the road.


http://tennesseeclassictruckclub.com...php?f=6&t=2872

[PanelDeland]

Here's another take on it.

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=505202

[rkn463]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

OK I'll start by saying I dont want this thread to get out of hand I got a simple Idea and not sure what the big deal is.......I always wanted a 69-72 Blazer just because I could make it a full convertible, and then I thought what else I would do with it and that would be to slam it, great sound system, maybe body drop it, lay the windshield back and chop it down and make pretty custom is the view i was heading in.......Now I have a 70 2wd lwb which I love the lwb trucks lowered I think they look sleeker than a short box.......and I was thinking why cant I just make the truck a convertible keep the long bed and have more room in the bed to do some cool stuff i was thinking about......My point is if a take a blazer and chop the windshield and I cut it all up and the top doest work anymore or I have a truck that the top is cut off and is cut up.......if i screw the cab up which I think it will be very well planned since I did it once before with a mazda truck when i was just a ladd...I can always get a new cab and the truck is back to normal but if i chop a blazer then I have to either replace the whole blazer tub or recustruct the windshield assembly...and i aready have the truck its not it good shape but its not completely terrible...........just wondering what some of you thought I know some off you hate this idea but i dont know what the differance is between chopping a blazer or a truck is..

I totally get what you are talking about and the fact that you have some custom work under your belt I say go for it. However I'd say start with a pickup. As custom as you are talking about I think it increases the cool factor and doesn't sacrifice a rare Blazer.

-Richard

[jocko]

Originally Posted by oldschool18

Jocko.....is a whale a blazer or a truck

It's both!

Boy, you've opened a can of worms now, haven't you! Good luck, can't wait to see your progress!

[MAK191]

Here are two that come to mind. First one is a full custom blazer and the second is a long bed that was made into a door-less blazer. either way do what makes you happy.

[oldschool18]

Chiefcfd thats lookin great and i see your not the only one on that site with a roof missing. And yes it is parked in the garage almost at all time now...I'm still not sure what way I am going to go, I was looking for a blazer close buy that i could salvage but if I do go with my truck I am going to try and find a cab or anouther truck with a decent cab but something that not restorable.....that last blazer is kinda how I wanted to do my blazer i was going to shave it from front to back the only body lines were going to be around the hood but then after a half an hour conversation with the head of PennDot I found out that you cant weld your doors shut and get it inspected, you can cut your roof off but you have to have defrosters for your windshield...at the end of the conversation the guy told me that truck sounds pretty cool but it was to bad that i didnt live in anouther state. but it had a walk thru bed but as soon as I figure something out I'm sure I'll start a build tread and Jocko.........sorry if alot of these guys that have 2wd blazers sitting in there back yard or in a field somewhere that are rotting to pieces and there asking for thousands of dollars for them now i know there rare but when there not running not complete and rotting from the middle down there not worth that much ( damn that barret jackson auction ) But Jocko if i do cut my truck I will make sure I can restore it back to normal if need to be.

[lowrollin70gmc]

I think it'd be cooler to do it to a truck. Topless and a shorter short bed so it's not quite as short as a blazer but not as long as a regular short bed.

As far as cutting stuff up, it's not like you're cutting up for scrap so do what you want. Many of these trucks have been / are being scraped or rusting in a field so to keep one on the road is what matters.

[YBNORML]

It's your truck, build it any which way you want. I get hassled all the time by guys who think I have ruined my blazer because it has lower miles than most (a little over 70,000). I usually just tell them they could always buy it from me that usually shuts them down.

I think it would be cool. If you got the skills, then get to work.

[oldschool18]

yeah i yell at my dad all the time hes got a 71 k5 blazer that has a plow on it that came from the dealer, it only has 28k on it and all he uses it for is to plow around his garage and storage buildings and its just rusting away. i tried to trade him my 91 for hi 71 and swap the plow for him and he wouldnt go for it....i got all kinda ideas going thru my head Like maybe a walk thru bed add a back seat and throw on a short bed hard cover....i'm sure that would keep me up at nite thinking.

[oldschool18]

All and i'm not looking for approval from anyone I was just looking for feedback

[BlazinC5]

Ehhh,, Why not do it. There are far worse things been done out there. One thing that my head doesn't wrap around very well is the area between the cab and box, like others have mentioned. It feels to me that it separates the vehicle as a whole. I want to say the perpous for removing the top of the blazer is so that everything is open and accessible. front to back. It's just the functionality for me I guess, or, it could be my OCD. Theres a huge amount of room in that lwb that will probably not be used up.. If ya have a cover on it, there ain't much point for speekers, can't haul any passengers, and air tanks don't take that much room. Sure you can put some stuff in there for a trip somewhere, but how much road tripping you wanna do with no roof over your head too. But, maybe it's really not such a a big deal like I made of it so far. After all,, what do I know anyhow. Go ahead and give it a shot and prove the ney sayers wrong. Inventions would never be made if people never tried something different..