Blazer sight unseen

[PatsFanWilly]

Hey guys, ive been lurking on this forum for a very long time now checking out everyones blazers. I decided about a year ago i wanted one for a project but the problem is the are very hard to find here in Kansas. I guess my question is would any of you guys buy a blazer just from pictures youve seen over the internet. I am really chompin at the bit to get one.

[GhostTown]

That is how I bought mine, though it's not a project truck. I was looking for a finished 4x4 to put my wife in immediately. I had the truck professionally appraised before even starting the negotiations. Appraiser gave the truck very high marks. I ended up paying five grand under what the appraiser listed it's worth at.

Long story short... I would never do this again.

I should repeat though, I wasn't looking for a project, so I was very very picky with what I received.

$300 plane ticket would have saved me about $10,000 in my case. Should have just gone to look at it on my own.

[Tony454]

Absolutely NOT!!! Always go look at it before you buy. I just bought mine and over the phone and from the pictures the guy sent me it looked great. He said no bondo no big dents and the only rust was the rockers and toe boards. Boy was I surprised when I got there after a twelve hour drive to find bondo in the tail light housings and front quarters, the back six inches of the bed rotted out, the foot wells rusted, the front quarters rusted under the mud, it looks like someone danced on the hood and he said it runs like a top until the day I got there and it mysteriously wouldn't idle. So to make a long story even longer I didn't come home empty handed but it cost him dearly for me to put it on my trailer. Please go look before you buy. If I would have bought this blazer sight unseen I'd still be kicking my own a$$.
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[AHowe88]

Originally Posted by Tony454

Absolutely NOT!!! Always go look at it before you buy. I just bought mine and over the phone and from the pictures the guy sent me it looked great. He said no bondo no big dents and the only rust was the rockers and toe boards. Boy was I surprised when I got there after a twelve hour drive to find bondo in the tail light housings and front quarters, the back six inches of the bed rotted out, the foot wells rusted, the front quarters rusted under the mud, it looks like someone danced on the hood and he said it runs like a top until the day I got there and it mysteriously wouldn't idle. So to make a long story even longer I didn't come home empty handed but it cost him dearly for me to put it on my trailer. Please go look before you buy. If I would have bought this blazer sight unseen I'd still be kicking my own a$$.
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I had similar experiences when I was looking to buy mine. I don't know what the hell people are smoking when they write up their ads, it is shocking really. That said, I ultimately did end up buying my Blazer sight unseen. BUT, and this is a big but, I talked it all over with the seller, and got him to agree to bring it to an truck/offroad shop that I selected, about 20 miles from him. The shop did a full prepurchase inspection, and gave me a run down. I bought it sight unseen and had it shipped out. Now it isn't ideal, but it worked for me. Most of the Blazers I found that I was interested in were in CO(including the one I bought) and TX, for what it is worth. Kansas isn't too far from either, so I would check in person if I could.

[70-K5]

I bought my 70 K5 from a guy who bought it sight unseen from a seller on eBay. Was supposed to be a frame off restoration, supposed to have a lift, bought from a Baptist minister in Georgia, fought the guy for a year before giving up and selling it to me cheap because he didn't want to look at anymore.

Another option is to get a board member who is close enough to the prospective purchase to go inspect it.
If you're ever looking at K5's around the Portland, OR area just send me a PM and I'll check it out.

[bouncytruck]

Bought mine from a board member via phone calls and emailed photos.

[truckster]

Originally Posted by bouncytruck

Bought mine from a board member via phone calls and emailed photos.

I think I'd have more confidence with a board member, but sight unseen is always a risky proposition. I guess the only way I would do it is if I was buying a Blazer for parts and the price was right.

[DeadheadNM]

Maybe from a long time board member otherwise no. I found mine on ebay spoke with the owner and flew out to see it before buying. Good luck - here's a possible pair of K5s for you near Albuquerque: http://albuquerque.craigslist.org/cto/3993389008.html

[IwantaK5]

I bought mine site unseen off of craigslist from the total opposite side of the country. It was a project, but it had new rims and tires on it that were worth the asking price for the whole truck so i took the chance and ended up with a nice starting point for a full resto. It worked out well for me.

[briank]

Ive bought a couple via craigslist and was happy, very risky business though.
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[ztk123]

I looked over two years for a decent factory 2 WD drive. I live in Ky I was able to find a couple of them within 400 miles of home. I was told they were in good shape, went to look at them only to find lots of rust. I finally bought one from California. Found it on Craigslist, it was listed as rust free. An independent 3rd party completed an inspection and confirmed the condition. They sent me a 20 plus page booklet with photos and documents. It truly was rust free and in really good shape. Worked out great and has been a fairly easy restoration. The shipping cost was far less than cutting out a bunch of rust.

Mike
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[lmn]

I looked at quite a few of them, before I got mine and always had to drive around 3hrs to look at them. I'll never forget 2 that I looked at. 1 was described as per, but the VIN tags were missing and was a driver, the other was a project, complete body with powertrain, was suppose to be super clean with 1 rust hole the size of a dime on the body and the floors/firewall/top are good. I drove 3.5hrs to get there and I just about beat the living *#%& out of the guy. I expected it to be 20% worse because people tend oversell their stuff, but this thing was ****ed. rockers were literally gone, firewall and floors were rusty, top was toast, fenders rotten, soccer ball size rust holes in the 1/4's and it was a standard not a auto. Don't even start me on the 56 Nomad we bought off of pic's, long story short, bye bye to 7k. I would never ever do it again. I suggest to see it in person or if you find one, post some pic's and see if anybody know's the truck or can see if they can take a look for you. I ended up getting mine from Arizona and had a board member look at it for me, then he gave me his report on it, it was a driver and it was a good price. Buying a project is a lot different then a driver.
sorry for the rant
Cam

[Jdubs71]

Chances are you could find a board member close enough to one you're interested in buying. Maybe a 12 pack of road sodas and or a little petro for the tank would do the trick. I think most people on this site could give you a good idea of the overall condition. My advice would be don't get into a hurry and be carful of buying sight unseen. That rust can hide behind a maaco paint job pretty well (fyi maaco has the $250 ambassador special if you get my drift)
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[jav418]

I'm not sure where your looking to buy, but I'm up in Sunnyvale, CA and I'd be more the happy to help a fellow board member out.

[PatsFanWilly]

Wow, thank you guys for all your help. I absolutely hear everything you are saying. I maybe one of the few in my generation that loves these old trucks and blazers, right now i have a 1969 c10 that i bought when i was 18 years old for a daily driver. I am currently 32 and still have the truck.
Here it is


The wife and i used to go cruising in it every saturday night in kansas. Now that i have a 4 month old daughter i wanted to keep the truck body style so the blazer is a perfect fit for us. I keep thinking how cool it would be to cruise with the wife and my daughter with the top down to Sonic Drive-In. Anywho i kind of ran off there......I have recently made 4 trips to the colorado area to look at Blazers. Its a 5hr drive to Denver from where i live. One of the blazers i told the guy i was coming to look at it. Then the guy sold it before i got there. The other 3 the guys upsold their blazer in the craigslist ad. They werent what they said they were when i got there. Or wanted WAY TOO MUCH for them.

Having one shipped to me wouldnt be a bad idea. I have checked on shipping before and its not bad. Thank you everyone. And if you currently own a Blazer i am jealous.

[lmn]

I'm in your age group(34) and we have a 68 short box 2wd. But my daughter is almost 3yrs old and that was the same reason I bought a blazer. I strongly encourage to get one if you want to go crusin with the entire family, so far my best memory in my blazer was the first time with the top off and my daughter in the back seat. ear to ear smiles, kicking her legs while we were cruisin. I thought about selling it, as I have 1 too many old cars, but that memory makes me keep. Good luck on the search, shipping ain't too bad. It cost me $1300 from Arizona to the border crossing in Idaho. But my blazer is lifted(6" with 36"'s)and it wont fit on a common carrier and had to be flat decked, could've save closed to $400. something to think about.
Cam

[PatsFanWilly]

Originally Posted by lmn

I'm in your age group(34) and we have a 68 short box 2wd. But my daughter is almost 3yrs old and that was the same reason I bought a blazer. I strongly encourage to get one if you want to go crusin with the entire family, so far my best memory in my blazer was the first time with the top off and my daughter in the back seat. ear to ear smiles, kicking her legs while we were cruisin. I thought about selling it, as I have 1 too many old cars, but that memory makes me keep. Good luck on the search, shipping ain't too bad. It cost me $1300 from Arizona to the border crossing in Idaho. But my blazer is lifted(6" with 36"'s)and it wont fit on a common carrier and had to be flat decked, could've save closed to $400. something to think about.
Cam

lmn, your story is truly what im trying to do with my family. My wife is all for the idea and theres no doubt my daughter would love it. The reason you got one is the exact same reason why i want one. Theres absolutely no doubt in my mind i want one im just having a hard time finding one.

[lmn]

like my Uncle told me, "A family that plays together, stay's together" I found, that since I got my wife into crusin, she lets me play in garage whenever I want to. I even get my daughter in there helping me, that's a pretty cool time when my little girl gets dirty in the garage with me, it makes all the hard work, worth while. Not sure how much work you can do yourself, but mine was a driver that was done about 10 yrs ago, that needed some mechanical, interior and some minor work. I strongly suggest buying a driver, there are good deals out there if you search. I paid $7000 and have around $12000 into it. Its not a show truck, but its a decent driver. My point is, by the time you do a project, you will have more $$ into, then buying a "driver", there's always stuff to do to all of them, which can make it "yours" and best of all, your driving it NOW and getting the memories. When I fix or do the small thing on my cars, that's when my little girl helps me, where "big" stuff is too dangerous for her to be around while working. Just something to think about.
Cam

[PatsFanWilly]

Originally Posted by lmn

like my Uncle told me, "A family that plays together, stay's together" I found, that since I got my wife into crusin, she lets me play in garage whenever I want to. I even get my daughter in there helping me, that's a pretty cool time when my little girl gets dirty in the garage with me, it makes all the hard work, worth while. Not sure how much work you can do yourself, but mine was a driver that was done about 10 yrs ago, that needed some mechanical, interior and some minor work. I strongly suggest buying a driver, there are good deals out there if you search. I paid $7000 and have around $12000 into it. Its not a show truck, but its a decent driver. My point is, by the time you do a project, you will have more $$ into, then buying a "driver", there's always stuff to do to all of them, which can make it "yours" and best of all, your driving it NOW and getting the memories. When I fix or do the small thing on my cars, that's when my little girl helps me, where "big" stuff is too dangerous for her to be around while working. Just something to think about.
Cam

Thank you for your insight cam, I would like to find one that runs and i could drive to work if i need to. Doing body work or fixing things mechanically doesnt scare me. I work at a large car dealer so i always have mechanics or body guys around me that would help. I dont want a blazer that is done. I want something that i can tinker on and make my own.

[GhostTown]

Originally Posted by lmn

Good luck on the search, shipping ain't too bad. It cost me $1300 from Arizona to the border crossing in Idaho.

You did well. I paid $2000 from Dallas to Southern Idaho. Though I also shipped a spare engine and tranny, all of it enclosed.

I paid $30,000. After tax, shipping, upgrades, and fixing stuff that should have been done right in the first place I'm a little over $40,000.

[Yukon Jack]

I pretty much bought my K5 from pics - I got the guy down to a price I was comfortable with based on the pics and drove down to near Dallas from Wichita - the guy knew I could turn him down after seeing the K5. Here's how it sat



Motor ended up having a bent rod but I still got a good buy as the metal is in awfully nice shape.

[swyfor5]

Yep, good to see you back on here Yukon! It has been a long time! Any updates on the projects?

[chadcampbell00]

I also sold my '72 K/20 to get my '70 Jimmy to have more room for my daughter back in January. My daughter is 2 and I don't feel real comfortable with her in the back seat with the top off because of how high the rear seat sets and with it being right over the rear axel it is a bit bumpy back there. All the suspension system is new (all springs, shocks, body bushings ect..) and its still will bounce you all over back there. So with that said my family is always in my Jimmy if it's not raining but the wife rides in the back seat. Even with that I wouldn't trade it for anything. Every time we leave the house my little girl hollers that she wants to ride in dada's Jimmy, she loves riding in that thing.

[Tony454]

Seems to be a common theme, I sold my '71 c-10 to buy my blazer. But my k5 is far from being a driver. I guess for me half the fun is the build and that's the part I would like to do with the family. My oldest is two and a half and my youngest is 4 months. My oldest was out in the shop with me the other night counting bolts as I took them out of the body. Before this is done she should be able to turn wrenches with the best. Lol
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