How a C10 purchase turned into insanity and Blazer builds

[Oldfashioned]

So I am new to the C10 Blazer world. This website, people and information has been invaluable to me in helping build trucks that were made before I was born. The amount of time and help people on here have dedicated to sharing is truly amazing. So I decided I would try to give back and start a build. I will try to be brief but I have to start from the beginning. November 2018 I finished up a couple car builds and decided I wanted a truck. My wife didn’t want me to do anymore projects so she suggested I get something finished. I started looking and couldn’t believe the prices for completed trucks that weren’t to my taste or satisfaction of quality. So I ended up bringing home a 1972 short bed C10 project that I picked up for $800. She passed me and the trailer on the way to the shop. Immediately the phone rang and she wasn’t happy...

[Oldfashioned]

Here is the 1972 I had for 24 hours. I had to keep the peace. Lol

[Oldfashioned]

I couldn’t get the truck out of my head so I continued to look that week and found a 1968 C10 roller in slightly better condition. So I picked that up and brought it home. Mama wasn’t mad at this one.

[Oldfashioned]

Issue was that when I was getting the 68 there was something that caught my eye...

[Oldfashioned]

So naturally I talked to the misses about it and she wasn’t elated like I was. She said I had one that I needed to finish already. So you know what happens next...

[Oldfashioned]

Well the guy I got these c10s from had a quart of paint for the red one at his buddies house that I needed to pick up to do some touch up work. Since I was in the area picking up a engine for the white 63 and was close I stopped and grabbed it. That’s when it happened. Low and behold I saw something I wanted in the future. I’m pretty sure you guys can tell by now that I am compulsive and addicted.

[Oldfashioned]

The 1972 Original owner Survivor Blazer with 30 something thousand miles pictured could he bought at just over a dollar a mile. I can’t afford that so I said to myself someday I will have a nice K5 Blazer and left it at that. Except I found myself looking at google image pictures of them and my mind wandering into exactly how I would want it. That led to searching craigslist and Facebook marketplace daily waiting for something affordable. Months go by of this and the red 68 C10 is nearing completion and white 63 is almost finish mock up.
Sorry for some of the pictures being sideways I am really new to this posting stuff.

[72ironmike]

Originally Posted by Oldfashioned

Well the guy I got these c10s from had a quart of paint for the red one at his buddies house that I needed to pick up to do some touch up work. Since I was in the area picking up a engine for the white 63 and was close I stopped and grabbed it. That’s when it happened. Low and behold I saw something I wanted in the future. I’m pretty sure you guys can tell by now that I am compulsive and addicted.

Well, Paul Harvey what's the rest of the story ? Did the Blazer come home ?

[Oldfashioned]

It is now January, Happy New Year, I am working diligently on the C10s but still doing my daily search. Low and behold I stumble across a affordable Arizona 1972 Blazer roller for sale. It’s 3ish hours north and believe it or not the same town the C10s came from. Is this destiny? The wife thinks not but what is it going to hurt to go look? It is everything the seller says. It needs a lot. The rear end cover looks like it has been off since 1974 exposed to the elements. The front leaf spring is broken so you can’t steer it. Driveshafts are missing, every panel is beat to death, one truck door, somebody welded a hitch to the frame, etc. It has a lot of good going for it though. Windshield frame looks solid, rocker boxes are intact, floors are good. It’s a decent find. So what happens next? I set the price that I would be willing to pay and won’t budge. The gentleman selling it comes very close to my bottom dollar but we can’t make a deal. I show self control and I walk away empty handed except that I made a new friend. He shows me his 65 C10 he has been working on and we vow to keep in touch. It’s unfortunate and just too much of a project and is missing too many things for me at this point in my life to tackle. The Misses can’t believe the trailer comes back empty. I get to sleep in my own bed that night.

[Oldfashioned]

Hahahahaha Mike. I’m typing away. I’m slow and my internet is slower than me.

[Oldfashioned]

It is now February 11th and getting very close to Valentines Day... On my daily search a 72 Blazer pops up in Miami a couple hours south for $1500 with the most god awful pictures ever. Whaaaaaattt? I call the guy and he says it’s rough but was running a couple years ago. His grand kids showed him how to use craigslist and loaded the photos for him. I ask him to text me better pictures. He attempts but it’s a epic fail. I tell him I’ll be there in the morning to take a look. I show up optimistic, Mama might get a early Valentines gift? It’s bad, real bad. Think Titanic at the bottom of the sea bad. Tag sticker says 2015 and his story is that Miami started putting up red light cameras then and he couldn’t stop on the 38s so he decided to park it. I have heard some funny explanations of why things have sat and this is one of my favorites. I knew there had to be more to the story but at this point, eh who cares it’s cheap. The bad, every panel. The hood skin has rusted off the inner frame. Torsion boxes completed rotted away, doors are truck doors and junk. Windshield frame is completely rotted through. Firewall is rotted badly. It has been crashed, high hit above the frame. Horrible Harry Homeowner 3” body lift. Has Dodge Ram front seats. The good. It has a title, it’s a CST, has the correct rear seat, it’s complete and can be bought for a $1000. Let’s load it up.

[Oldfashioned]

So logically I didn’t need anymore projects but the CST, as we will refer to it, was cheap. I have a idea of how to make this work. I’ll head north 3 hours the next day and pay my new friend the $2800 he wanted for the Arizona Blazer. Only problem is the shop is full, these are gonna have to come home and get worked on. My beautiful wife gets two Valentines gifts! Who says chivalry is dead?

[Oldfashioned]

I jumped ahead a bit. Before I can get Arizona Blazer I have to get the CST off the trailer. I have the CST up and running after 30 minutes. I can’t believe it. Whoaaaa no brakes, I back it off the trailer into a spot at the shop to go get Arizona. I drop Arizona off at the house and come back for CST. She fires right up and wouldn’t you believe it? No forward gears. I have reverse but no forward. So you stopped driving it because of red light cameras? It was backed up under a tree, in a peculiar hard to get to place when I found it in Miami. Sure looked like it would be a lot easier to have driven it into such a tight place forwards. Must be a coincidence? Oh well, had planned on going through the trans anyways. Just makes it a pain to deal with at the moment. Plan is to tear both down to the frame and make one good Blazer out of the two. Will buy all new sheetmetal for Arizona and use every piece I can off of CST. I’ll have the Blazer I want fairly cheap as long as you don’t factor in the blood, sweat and beers. I like to save them so I like the direction we are headed.

[Oldfashioned]

Ohhh on the way home from getting Arizona the air lift bags blow out on my lowered Ram. Yes I’m a guy that can’t leave anything stock. So for the next 100 miles the trailer jack is less than a inch from the ground. 35 mph max, that 3 hour trip turned into over 6. A picture of my uncle visiting, looking in amazement at the trailer and that I was able to make it home is priceless to me. Lol Well that was just the beginning of issues. Getting Arizona in the garage was quite a chore. She won’t roll because the rims are wrong and hitting the calipers. I jack it up and take calipers off. She rolls but won’t steer because of the broken leaf spring. After a hour or so of jockeying with a jack I get it inside and on a lift success!

[Oldfashioned]

It is now Valentines Day and I take the night off from playing with trucks and Blazers to spend with the wife. I even splurged and left some flowers on her desk at work when she wasn’t looking.

[Oldfashioned]

So I am staying busy a couple hours a night, tearing into the Blazers side by side to see where we are at and to get a game plan. I take the day off for my birthday and spend time with the family. Next night, February 24th, I get a text from my friend that I bought the C10s from. He’s checking up on progress as usual and casually tells me he has another 72 roller for sale. Ehh I don’t need that right now. Gets me thinking how is the sheetmetal? He tells me it has new doors, fenders, radiator support, inner fenders and hood. Only issue it has surface rust from sitting outside. Comes with a extra cab. Well considering I can get it for less than the new sheetmetal will cost me shipped it’s worth taking a look at right? It’s only a 3 hour drive one way. I’m pretty sure by now you can only guess what happens next.

[Oldfashioned]

So things have changed quite a bit since my original vision. This is the plan. Arizona is going to be a semi stock K5 Blazer. It has now become a frame off adventure. 350, turbo 350 lifted 4” on 33” wheels with all newish sheetmetal. Waiting on skyjacker lift kit. CST is going to be resurrected as a 67 front roadster. I will only be able to save the frame, one bed side and the cargo floor. That’s it. Nothing else. I will use one bedside from Arizona that can be saved. I will use the firewall from one of the truck cabs and all new sheetmetal. It’s going to be a bagged 2wd utilizing the 72 roller suspension and Dead end garage 2wd conversion that I am waiting on. Unsure of drivetrain right now. I will upload pictures tommorow of the tear down of both. So we started out with one truck project, owned for 24 hours, I couldn’t have to now 5 trucks. You can only imagine how my home life is lol. Actually she is so used to it, doesn’t phase her anymore.

[lks dcvn]

Awesome trucks with a little history on each one. Keep posting your progress and we can help along the way.

You are off to a great start!

[72ironmike]

Originally Posted by Oldfashioned

Hahahahaha Mike. I’m typing away. I’m slow and my internet is slower than me.

Thanks Paul, You must type like me !

[CG]

I don't know squat about Blazers, but you turned that Blazer down at 2800.00 the first time around? From what Ive read, that seems to be a steal of a price.

Ive promised myself Im not dragging anything else home, and have been slowly getting rid of all my stuff, but if I found a Blazer like that I would probably buy it. BTW my honey would probably kill me lol.

Cool thread you have going, a fun read!

[Oldfashioned]

Originally Posted by lks dcvn

Awesome trucks with a little history on each one. Keep posting your progress and we can help along the way.

You are off to a great start!

Thanks you have already been extremely helpful and I thank you for that

[Oldfashioned]

Originally Posted by 72ironmike

Thanks Paul, You must type like me !

Yeah I might be on the younger side but technology isn’t my thing unless it comes to cars. I generally have to have my kids help me but I figured this forum out on my own.

[Oldfashioned]

Originally Posted by CG

I don't know squat about Blazers, but you turned that Blazer down at 2800.00 the first time around? From what Ive read, that seems to be a steal of a price.

Ive promised myself Im not dragging anything else home, and have been slowly getting rid of all my stuff, but if I found a Blazer like that I would probably buy it. BTW my honey would probably kill me lol.

Cool thread you have going, a fun read!

Yeah I didn’t know a whole lot about Blazers either. Originally from Philly and have seen my fair share of rust but being in Florida I have become spoiled with clean cars. When I looked at the Blazer it was 4K and he came down to 2800. I thought it was awful rusty for that at the time. Wow was I wrong after seeing others. I wanted to pay 2500 and dug my heels in the sand. The guy didn’t need to sell it and I actually talked him out of selling it before I left. He took down the ad and everything. He was very surprised when I called and wanted to buy it later. I had just cleaned house myself of quite a few things and said I wouldn’t do this again... lol

[Oldfashioned]

Here is some of the bad on Arizona. At the time I thought this was really bad and didn’t realize that they had come out with all the replacement panels.

[Oldfashioned]

Here is some more of the bad on Arizona. The transfer case was ratchet strapped In and half hanging out. It was obviously full of dirt and a old random baby shoe? It had trash and debris all in it. My biggest concern was that I couldn’t get the passenger door open and had no idea what I would find lurking behind it. Front seats were gone with a bench in place was another bummer.