The seller of this 1980 Chevrolet Blazer Silverado 4×4 has uploaded over 175 photos, so please check out the link to see every square inch of this truck inside and out. It’s a two-owner 4×4 and looks like it’s solid, and being a Silverado model, it’s not a stripped-down version. The seller has it listed here on ebay in West Linn, Oregon and the current bid price is $8,850, but the reserve isn’t met.
Chevy made the K5 Blazer from 1969 through 1994 and this is a second-generation model, which would have been produced for the 1973 through 1991 model years. One of the oddest names ever, they were known as the “Rounded Line” Blazers, as opposed to the first-gen Blazers that were actually rounded and had round headlights. They only came in a two-door body style, as with the Ford Bronco and Dodge Ramcharger. These trucks were fairly slow and thirsty, unlike most modern SUVs, but you won’t draw a crowd with most new SUVs.
The seller says this Blazer has had just two owners over the last 45 years, and then they say it was adult-owned. I would assume that the owners were adults… With around 76,000 miles, it isn’t an ultra-low-mile truck but it looks great in the photos. The seller included many underside photos and it shows some heavy surface rust as is to be expected, even on an Oregon vehicle.
The interior looks good other than some issues on the dashboard and some other trim. They say that this Blazer has had new paint within the last two years so it isn’t “original” as some of us would have hoped, but the last owner is said to have spent $10,000 over the last 15 years on maintenance. The seats look close to perfect both front and rear and the rear cargo area looks fairly good, other than some worn side panels.
The VIN decodes to this Blazer as having had a 350-cu.in. OHV V8 with 170 horsepower and 270 lb-ft of torque from the factory, but the seller says this one is a GM crate 350 V8. it sends power through a rebuilt automatic transmission to all four wheels as needed and runs healthy and strong. The list of replaced maintenance items is impressive, so please check out the listing to see both the photos and the description. Any thoughts on this Blazer?
Wow, very nice Blazer Scotty. ’80 was the only year for the square headlights that makes these unique. I always preffered the ’73 to ’80 front sheetmetal before they made it more aerodynamic ( if you could call it that) in ’81. I prefer the earlier trim and two tone treatments they did too, it really accented the body lines very nicely. Its in beautiful looking condition inside and out overall for the age. A GM crate 350 I’m sure will give years of dependable service too.
FWIU “Rounded Line” was only ever used internally by GM Design. Certainly if it ever appeared in ads, brochures or any other public-facing materials GM put out at the time, it would have to have been too rare to show up in any of the major online archives.
Blazer sales dropped precipitously in 1980 from the previous year.
A near identical twin to a Jimmy a customer of mine had back in the day. At least his was the same color. He was, without a doubt, the cheapest skate I ever had. His was actually a ’79, with the 203 transfer case. I remember him complaining about the 12 mpg he was getting so he determined that the ultimate cure was converting the full-time to part-time 4wd.
I quoted a price but he found a place about 50 miles away that squeezed a penny till BOTH of Lincoln’s eyes popped out. They got the job and did the conversion properly. Unfortunately, they didn’t advise the customer that he needed to keep the transfer case locked in 4wd in order to keep the chain moving so it could bring lube up to the top end of the TC.
Well, it deep-fried itself extra crispy. It came to our place on a hook and let me tell you that I got even for all the cheap crap he pulled on us in the past. It was put back to Full-Time 4wd when we overhauled the case.
Now, this truck. It’s obviously been repainted because that firewall looks more like GM’s red/orange color there. Not a popular color. I’m not fussy about leaving the A/C compressor off during the engine swap.
Those Goodwrench engines were actually pretty good. Nothing serious; they had 1.94″ intake valves, exhaust valve rotators, and 4-bolt mains; essentially what you got with the F-44 option in a light truck. A Goodwrench was usually cheaper than a rebuild.
The local law enforcement had a police interceptor with essentially the Corvette engine under the hood. It dropped a valve and they needed a new engine–fast! I priced out a replacement, and several other dealerships quoted the job.
A dealership an hour away won the bid so they hauled the car over there and they put in a new engine.
It wasn’t long after that when “Deputy Dawg” brought the car over, complaining about a severe lack of performance. I checked it out and confirmed that the competition installed a Goodwrench engine. Needless to say, I rubbed the department’s nose in it, telling them that they get what they pay for…
I was surprised to get a text from a good friend about an hour ago, saying that his new (he bought it new a few months ago) 2024 GMC Yukon Denali just blew its engine after less than a year! GM said they’ll give them $44 a day toward a rental car until they get it worked out, and they think they may have to go after GM under the lemon law in order to get this worked out. I hope not, but less than a year old and it blew the engine? That was an $80,000+ vehicle with probably fewer than 10,000 miles on it.
Scotty, Lets hope they dont try and put a Goodwrench 350 in it.
Seriously, thats horrible. I would never have expected with a brand new 80 grand SUV.
Yes there is a recall going on and even effects the 2025’s with low mileage.GM is saying lower end bearings but one rebuilder – Dave out of Utah – has found it’s the piston leaving the rod….
I find that rather disturbing that a new Vortec engine failed. They have a good reputation. We have a 2013 Avalanche and a 2013 Tahoe, both with 180K miles. Aside from some anemic oil pressure readings near service time, they are both good trucks. My wife has an ’02 Tahoe that she uses to pull the cargo trailer to the various shows and it’s got the earlier version of the 5.3 Vortec, and in 300K miles, it’s had a new transmission and a fuel pump. The engine has developed an oil leak so we need to schedule some repair work. It looks like a fugitive from the junkyard but it’s still highly functional…
New GM trucks having serious engine problems.
I had a ’80 GMC with round headlights. It depended on the trim level. For Chevy… Scottsdale, Cheyenne, Silverado.
1980 is a very good year. One year of headlight model for that trim package.
Chevrolet had built a truck dynasty and these Chevrolet trucks will live in history as the best all around model for cost and ease of maintenance.
Lucky the prevoios owner put a GoodWrench in my old 1977 Suburban…..still runs good !
That is low mileage ! My 96 350 went over 448,000 miles
Auction update: this Blazer made it to $15,600 and that wasn’t enough to meet the reserve, so no sale.
Update 2: it’s been relisted with a $17,995 buy-it-now price.