found my 72 blazer original owner.

[joea307]

last night I called the original ower of my 72 blazer,He ordered it as a ochre color,cst,a/c 4 speed blazer with single wall top.he sent me some pics today

he sent me this paragraph today
Hi Joe,



We custom ordered and bought the 72 Blazer from Van Chevrolet in Overland Park, Kansas so we would have a great vehicle to travel to Colorado for our annual camping trip. After about two years Colorado was calling and we moved to Lakewood,Colorado and of course brought the 72 with us. I used the 72 as my only car to commute to work and take camping trips in the mountains. As time moved on my company supplied me a company car and the 72 was stored and only driven in bad weather and vacations. Our most memorable experience with the 72 is the camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Monument. We loved this camping area and as we would explore the dunes we would take the 72 into the sand and the kids had a ball. One trip we decided to follow the river running through the dunes and in an attempt to forge the river I stalled the 72 in the river and she sank to the axels. Many hundreds of dollars later we were pulled out by a wrecker and taken to the Chevrolet deals in Alamos,Colorado to have the sand removed from the wheel bearings. Our family had wonderful times traveling in the 72. Kids grew up, no more camping so again I parked the 72 for years and eventually sold it to a gentleman in Golden, CO

[ajviper]

It is awesome that you were able to get pictures of it from back then.

[LEEVON]

Cool! I lived a couple of blocks away from Van Chevrolet of Overland Park as a kid in the 80's...used to ride my bike through the lot and admire all the new trucks.

[DeadheadNM]

That's great. How did you track down his contact info?

[joea307]

well I had documention from the dealership and service records he had .I also had stuff from the second owner,like the odometer reading be accurate sheet Colorado made them do in 1989.I had his first middle initle and last name and he came up on some sort of voter registration page it was crazy had his phone number and current address,it matched the addresss from 89 so I gave it a shot.he was a real nice guy,he still lives here in the Denver metro area.

[68panelman]

Wow, too cool. It's a blessing to contact and speak with the original owners. My last three trucks have dead history which really sucks!

[scott123]

Those pictures could have been used as GM commercial from back in the day. S

[dirish]

Awesome find, almost like finding a lost relative. Your Blazer seems to have lived a good life!

[joea307]

Its been through a lot ,here is a link to my thread on here of it
http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=616760
also here is my latest you tube video of both my blazers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maQoBAfH1kc

[1968k20]

Great story!

[joea307]

thanks I've been glad that I can be able to let him know about his old blazer and be able to save it.

[ls1nova71]

I remember Van Chevrolet! Does it have a "by Van" emblem on the cowl or anywhere? Used to see those dealer emblems all the time in the junk yards around here. Those are some cool original photos, look like they should have been a brochure or something.

[joea307]

It didn't have the emblem on it, I believe the reason was they had ordered the vehicle and just didn't have time to put it on. I could be wrong though.

[1956cameo]

Wow! Cool story. Wish I could talk to the original owners of my vehicles. The best would be getting old pictures of when they were new.

[joea307]

I was just lucky he had family camping trips on slides and started to convert them to digital.I plan to keep in toch so maybe I can get more from him when he gets around to converting more slides.

[Maddoxdb]

Cool story and pictures. Original owner of my blazer lives about 5 miles up the road from me. Was actually the art teacher in high school. I need to get in touch with him for some old pictures...

[ls1nova71]

Just looked at your thread where you bought this truck, and was looking at the spid and noticed it doesn't list any kind of hubcaps, and it doesn't have any on it in the old pics. I don't think hubcaps were standard even on CST's, as I have seen spids that list the CST option and either full wheel covers or chrome hubcaps, and since they didn't make 4x4 painted hubcaps, guess this truck just never had any. Just thought that was interesting.

[joea307]

your right I looked at the spid for hub caps also, I looked at the picture also and noticed that. In current pics you can tell caps were on it after the wheels were painted ochre. Ill ask the original owner about it coming with caps. its been on my mind also. It also came with dealer add on hitch on the back as well as tow hooks, he said came from the dealership, they aren't like the sought after ones everyone wants, but glad I didn't get rid of them.

[joea307]

Been getting out and driving it around.

[70gmcjimmy]

That's a great story Joe! Very cool that the original owner had pictures and info to share with you. I know the name of the original owner of my Jimmy but he only owned it until 1971 when my Mom bought it from him. Maybe I should try to google his name anyway.

Are you going to take it over to the original owner to give him a ride in it some time?

I'm hoping soon we will be able to drive ours to Denver to give my sisters a ride in Mom's Jimmy.

I just put in a "join" application on your FB page.

DAC

[cleszkie]

Real memories were made in these trucks, and they were purchased in a time when I believe people had more of a connection with their vehicles, and the vehicles became part of the family. As such, people held onto their "family friends" for longer periods of time. Not like today with all of the "disposable" vehicles that are used up and spit out so quickly for the next lower rung on the food chain to use, or to be crushed. Just my opinion, but feel free to disagree if you have a Nissan Leaf, Toyota Prius, or Ford Fiesta that you think will be around in 40 years

[70gmcjimmy]

Originally Posted by cleszkie

Real memories were made in these trucks, and they were purchased in a time when I believe people had more of a connection with their vehicles, and the vehicles became part of the family. As such, people held onto their "family friends" for longer periods of time. Not like today with all of the "disposable" vehicles that are used up and spit out so quickly for the next lower rung on the food chain to use, or to be crushed. Just my opinion, but feel free to disagree if you have a Nissan Leaf, Toyota Prius, or Ford Fiesta that you think will be around in 40 years

Agree 100%! In our case in June 1972, our lives and that Jimmy was all we had after a flash flood took all our belongings and our home. 238 folks didn't get out alive. I could never let the only possession that we had at one time go, and neither could Mom. When I croak, then someone else will probably get it.

DAC

[joea307]

Originally Posted by 70gmcjimmy

That's a great story Joe! Very cool that the original owner had pictures and info to share with you. I know the name of the original owner of my Jimmy but he only owned it until 1971 when my Mom bought it from him. Maybe I should try to google his name anyway.

Are you going to take it over to the original owner to give him a ride in it some time?

I'm hoping soon we will be able to drive ours to Denver to give my sisters a ride in Mom's Jimmy.

I just put in a "join" application on your FB page.

DAC

Iam friends with him through email and facebook,one of my goals is take it to him,he live maybe 20 min away,heck id let him drive it.let me know when you come to Denver!

[70gmcjimmy]

Originally Posted by joea307

Iam friends with him through email and facebook,one of my goals is take it to him,he live maybe 20 min away,heck id let him drive it.let me know when you come to Denver!

20 minutes away in the Denver area is pretty darn close! I bet he would really get a kick out of taking his old Blazer for a little drive! Keep us posted if you get the chance.

We will probably be in Denver sometime mid to late July for our annual visit and a Rockies game. It's a tradition with my sisters and my brother-in-law to do about the time of Mom's birthday. She was a big Rockies fan. The Jimmy won't be making the trip yet but we did buy an engine for it this morning!

Later---DAC

[underliner6]

An update to the story of this Blazer. I just purchased it from a gentleman in Phoenix that Joe sold the Blazer to at the end of 2018. This gentleman did extensive metal work to the blazer including new inner and out rockers, new floor pans, a new bed side, and nearly disassembled it completely in order to make it rust free. I picked up the truck in pieces with the intention to do a frame off restoration. The Blazer had previously been wrecked but miraculously did not have any frame damage except for the very front frame horns being slightly bent where the bumper mounts. The gentleman I bought the Blazer from has straightened out the frame horns and did a very good job on the repair. As Joe stated previously in this thread, the Blazer has unbelievable documentation from all the original dealer paperwork to all service records from 1972 to 1994 when it was parked until 2015. This truck has been rid hard and put up wet but it’s a special truck and I’m very pleased to be able to give it new life.

Joe was of great help as I contacted him before buying the Blazer and got a lot of history of the truck from him. I am going to post some photos that Joe posted in another thread of the truck in different stages of its life up until now when I got it. I will certainly do a build thread when I decide to take the plunge. I need to button up my 1972 Camaro project before jumping into the Blazer.