One man's story of how I came to own my first.....

Classic 1972 Chevy Blazer

First, a big thank you to  Wulf's Blazer Net  for creating the much appreciated and frequently visited 69-72 Blazer/Jimmy Message Board (I'm JBOY on the message board) and to all my fellow blazer owners (and future owners) who regularly visit there and have requested the  "how to remove a blazer top single-handedly".   Since posting that i have a simple setup, I have received dozens of requests for the information, which motivated me to create yet another web page dedicated to the beauty of the Classic Chevy Blazer and the passion that can only be experienced by owning one!

If you want to read my story of how I came to own and love my blazer later and are here to see my simple system of how to remove and re-install the top without having to bribe 2 or 3 buddies to help me, click  here.

HERE are more photos of the truck including interior and engine compartment.  These were taken later, after I installed an Edelbrock carb and had the engine compartment cleaned, removing the 25 years of gunk buildup.  Well worth the $90 for steam cleaning so you can find bolts and wires!  Even a couple of the information stickers were under the hood but had been covered in crud before the cleaning.

I had forgotten to take a few pictures of it in the "as purchased" condition.  When I bought it, it had a 4-inch lift that sagged to one side and to the rear, possibly cause it needed shocks desperately?  Whoever installed the lift didn't bother getting the longer U-bolts, so the stock U-bolts were on and the threads didn't even come thru the bolts - THAT was scary to see!  Also it had 31-inch tires which looked fairly silly with all that lift.  One of my friends had put a lift on his truck and held onto the stock springs.  He let me have them so the truck went back to stock, that helped the budget alot rather than buying larger tires and U-bolts, shocks, etc.  There was a big, rusty, bent winch bumper on it with a broken winch, a u-shaped push-bar and no less than 6 un-connected off-road lights, pointed in all directions.  It was ugly (to me) so I removed it and sold it and drove without a front bumper for a couple months until I bought a reproduction front bumper from ChevyDuty.  Other than that it was in great shape.

But before I go on about the blazer, let me tell you the mildly interesting and sometimes sad story of how I came to own it.  When we bought our home in 1984, it needed ALOT of work done on it, so I bought my dad's old 1971 Ford F-100.  It was a beater, no straight sheet metal over 12" anywhere!  It had rusted everywhere that it could possibly rust.  It had a connection for a block heater, so I suspect that it began life somewhere in the midwest and took lots of abuse, probably never saw a garage or barn in it's life.  It was originally dark blue, the Sport Custom model, but the top surfaces had oxidized to almost white or no paint at all.  Anyway, it served it's purpose well during the remodel, at times being so overloaded that I could barely steer the thing.  Boy, nothing like being young and dumb!

Finally the motor was giving up...starting with the heads.  People sitting in their cars at traffic lights would roll up their windows and wave with one finger because smoke was beginning to flow constantly from the exhaust pipes, a major offense in California!  I found a good deal on a rebuilt 390 and my friend Neal, aka Mr. Goodwrench, the Chevy-answer-man to us, helped me put it in.  Neal has always been a chevy man, starting with a '55 he bought about 2 years before he could even get his liscense and worked it over by the time he could drive it legally.  That was one nice car!  and fast!  Sorry, Neal, forgot this is MY story.

The whole time we worked on my truck, he would point out how this was easier on small block chevys and that was easier on small block chevys and how small block chevys can fit the same parts from '55 all the way up into the 80's.  Then I came accross a '75 F-250 with a great body, but no engine or tranny so I bought it and he helped me put the new motor and tranny in it and parted out the '71.  When we would have to find used parts for that process, we'd get guys on the phone asking stuff like, "was that ford made in late '74 to mid '75, or late '75?"  How the heck do we know...and what are the Ford engineers thinking, changing stuff during a model year?  Anyway, he convinced me that chevys were superior, at least in familiarity and interchangability making them simpler to work on.  And also during this time, he began to "build a brand new '70 Chevy K-20" as he called it, and that he did.  A beautiful truck with nearly all components new or rebuilt, starting with a bare frame that he & I scrubbed and scrapped in the vacant lot next to my house.  After the ordeal of wrenching 2 fords and parting out another (stressful on my marriage), and watching the beautiful truck he was making, I made a casual statement in passing that if I ever bought another truck, it would be a '71 or '72 chevy 4x4.

Less than a month later...Neal shows up with a truck trader that has a '72 K-10, mostly rebuilt, fresh paint for $2700...and it was in the previous trader for $3600.  So I call to find out why it hasn't sold and he said it's not smog legal, and that none of the smog equipment is on it and no one wants to hassle with it.  We drove to Oakland and test drove it.  I loved it, 4 inch lift, 35's, 3:73's, fresh maroon paint, wood bed, all nice except no carpet, bare metal cab floor, showing that the original color was turquoise.  I told him I wanted it but the guy couldn't find the pink so I panicked.....and with reason.

Back to the '75 Ford I bought without the engine/tranny....remember that?  As it turned out, there were a couple lessons to be learned on that one.  First of all, don't leave an un-registered vehicle parked in front of your house, I got a ticket for having a truck parked in front of my house that didn't even have a motor or tranny!  And second of all, in California, if someone lets a vehicle registration lapse without filing a lousy $5 non-operational vehicle form, the next owner that tries to register it is responsible for all back fees + penalties, so my great deal cost me an additional $550 in back fees & penalties to register....not right!  You can bet I call DMV on EVERY used car I look into now, with liscense and VIN #!

Now back to my the '72!  I had agreed to buy it on the sunday before thanksgiving, 1994 but since he couldn't find the pink I stalled.  He said he was going out of town to his mom's for Thanksgiving and thought it was there, so I agreed to wait 7 WHOLE days to pick up MY truck!  The agony was almost unbearable!  But it was worth it!

I had my first 4x4.  I think I drove all the way home with a big goofy grin on my face.  I know I did!  I loved it, the wife loved it, the kids loved it, Neal loved it, what fun.  Neal & I made a trip to the local pick-n-pull and got smog injector tubes, stock valve covers (the truck had tall chrome covers that the tubes could not cross over), picked up a new air pump from Kragens and got it smogged!  It passed easily!

Being a 4-wheelin rookie, I decided the responsible thing to do was to take an off road  safety clinic  offered by the Esprit-De-Four club at  Hollister Hills SVRA  (State Vehicular Recreation Area).  I registered my truck for the class and my wife as a second driver, and Neal took his truck with his wife and another couple from work registered also.  But then (now the sad part) tragedy struck!

On April 2, 1995, with the safety clinic only a month away....I was playing tennis at lunch time at a park in Mt. View, and upon returning to my truck.....it was gone!  Only a little puddle from where my T350 leaked.  I could have cried!  I had to RUN back to work (1.5 miles, but I'm a runner so it wasn't that bad) and call the cops.  Then went down and filled out the report.  And to add insult to injury, since I was preparing for the first "dirt trip", I had washed, waxed, changed the oil & tranny fluid, including adding one of those pricey additives to both the very day before!  Waaaah!  I was fortunate that I had it fully insured....Neal hadn't yet but did that very week!  A lesson for all of us...get insurance if it's valuable to you.  I have learned since then that there is quite a market for chevy 4x4 parts, both legal and hot.  And if you selfish B**TARDS who stole my truck ever decide to live right and pay for your own property instead of the chicken-s*it take what you want mentallity, email me and we'll arrange for you to make restitution for harm done!  Whew!  Sorry, I thought I was over that.......I'll go on now.

I settled with the insurance company (long painful process to try to get TRUE value out of them) and heard later that they had found it parked in Fremont, stripped of it's motor, tranny, xfer case, tires & wheels, and primered black.  I requested to buy it back from the insurance company but they said no due to the fact that it had the ID plates drilled out.  Bummer.  I did get to take the safety clinic, but went as the 2nd driver with my friend Brian, who brought his Toyota 4x4 pickup.  My wife had to miss out though (I don't think she minded).

Next I set out on a MANIC drive to find another truck, buying truck traders hot off the press, about 10:30am on friday's here in California.  It was depressing, nothing good available.  Some weeks there would be only 2 or 3 from that era in the entire magazine.  They were either too beat or too pricey!  I figured I had about a $4000 budget.  Neal & I went as far as Sonora to look at one (100 miles).  Another lesson, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!  I spent 30 minutes quizzing this guy in Sonora and told him what I was looking for and how far I was travelling so I could decide if it was worth the drive.  He was able to assure me that I wouldn't be sorry.  When we got there, it was painted orange over brown over something with all 3 colors showing, the orange peeling badly as if the painter forgot to prep.  Also, the NP205 was gone and replaced with something BIG that hung down BELOW the cross member.....not what you want when you're going off road!  What a drag, and that's not mentioning the top-of-the-cab mounted spotlight!  OK, I guess, if you're a security guard or paperboy.  Frustrated, we picked up a local paper and made a couple more calls while we were in the sierras but headed for home with nothing but another experience.  The highlight of the day was stopping at Foster's Freeze in Livermore on the way home!  Also, beware the phrase "it's got the usual minor rust", sometimes true, but sometimes you can see the guy's cat laying under the truck through the floor-board, or at least where the floor-board should be.

Finally in July I had decided to buy a '70 short bed that had a pretty hot motor, decent dark blue paint, but with goofy stripes (my opinion only, remember the beauty thing) and no tailgate.  I had looked at it and driven it and was going to meet the guy on a sunday.  That friday I picked up another Truck Trader and looked thru and saw this blazer.  I had been thinking a blazer might be nice, I mean with kids and all, and since I rarely actually needed a truck anymore, but there weren't many available at the time and the nice ones seemed to be pretty pricey, anywhere from $6000 to $10,000 at least here in California.  I decided to call about it.  Hmmm, sounds good, the guy says it's all original except the 4-inch lift & winch bumper.  Really clean he says, asking $5900.  So Debbie, our son Scott & I go up to Burlingame the next morning to check it out.

First thing we notice is that this is the cleanest one we've seen, except for the really pricey ones, and we've now looked at a couple dozen trucks.  It's got a 4-speed which I really wanted this time, and A/C that works!  We hadn't seen that often.  Scott loved it too and said buy it, buy it, he liked all the room he had in back, compared to our car.  I played it cool and told him I'd call him later, which I did.....later that day!  I couldn't get it out of my mind, even though it was over my budget.  I called him and offered $5000.  He said that for now he was going to wait for other offers, especially since it was only the first day of a 2 week ad.  I couldn't blame him and didn't want to wait so I called him again and asked what he would let it go for.  He said he was hoping someone "seemingly responsible" would buy it so it wouldn't get thrashed, and since I seemed to be that way, we agreed on $5500, but did it so I could save most of the extra $500 in DMV fees.....but I don't want to talk about THAT here!

So the next Monday, I got my first blazer!  I was told by the previous owner that he was the 3rd owner....but once you get past the original owner, unless it's documented well, there is no way of knowing for sure.  Anyway, he gave me a folder containing receipts from things he had done to it the short time he owned it, including the original owner's manual.  He also said it has the original engine and that the odometer is accurate (rolled over once) which meant it had just over 176,000 at the time I bought it.  Also original paint except for the passenger side front fender.  If that is true, this thing was garaged alot, cause the paint still shines great when clean, pretty thin on the hood though, you can see the brown primer starting to show through.   It was kind of a "utility" model, had both front seats and the rear seat, and had mats instead of carpet, which I must say is nice in summer, don't have to worry about leaves getting stuck or rain or even bird poop!  The top is ok, cracks in the usual spots but one of the past owners cut a pop-up air vent in the roof near the rear, and has since been patched with a black plastic panel.  I didn't even notice it when I first looked at it.  Looks goofy, but at least it doesn't leak at all.

Within a week I had my Dad and uncle over to take the top off.  The first time was a pain, how to carry it, where to store it, we moved it 3 times before deciding on where we could safely put it for the rest of the summer.  And, given that these were 2 old men, I had to line up my younger, stronger friends when it came time to put it back on.

We cruised topless the rest of that first summer and loved it.  We made a trip to Santa Cruz via Hwy 9 one day, stopping at Big Basin for a short hike and finished with pizza at Tony & Alba's  in Santa Cruz.  I got rained on a time or 2 that first summer cause I probably left the top off too long into the fall.  Now I pretty much go with the time zone here, taking the top off during daylight savings time, usually waiting until the end of April, and back on again at standard time in the end of October - 6 months topless!

Another nice thing that happened that first summer, and has happened at least once every summer since I've owned it, is someone will pull up along side at a traffic light and say, "Wow, that's a really nice truck", or "do you want to sell your blazer?"  I smile and say "Thank you" and "NO"!

That's the long, sometimes sad story of how I came to own and appreciate my Classic Chevy Blazer.