Ooof. The seller of this 1970 Chevrolet Blazer has a cautionary tale as it relates to handling major restoration projects when it enters the bodywork phase. More on that in a minute, but the Blazer as you see it here is a 2WD model that he apparently rescued with the intention of restoring. It cleaned up surprisingly well once removed from the weeds, but apparently still needed a fair amount of work – or at least, it ended up that way. Check out the Blazer here on eBay where it is now in primer but unfinished.
Bidding currently sits at $7,600 with the reserve unmet. Now, here’s the truck post-removal from the property it was found on but before disassembly began. It looks remarkably solid to me, and the paint almost looks like it could be original. I’m guessing it presents better than it actually was, as the truck was completely stripped down with the interior removed. Now, with this truck being in Washington State, the odds seem good that it’s solid underneath – but as you’ll see below, the work done so far is quite extensive, and may point to deeper issues found with the body.
Now, I just came through the other end of perhaps the most ambitious project I’ve ever taken on – the junkyard find Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3-16 that’s been documented here in the past. I’ve kept a low profile on this as I wanted to make sure it would actually emerge from the bodywork phase as a car I still wanted to own (good news – I do!) but I’m aware of the fact I’m incredibly lucky to have the relationships that I do for this sort of work. They are incredibly fair and I’m sure make some concessions to see projects get across the finish line. In the case of this seller, he claims the body shop for his Blazer doubled the price once it was stripped down to bare metal, so he had them prime it and then he pulled it out of their facility. This is likely more common than we realize, and if it’s an accurate recounting of what happened, I feel gutted for this seller.
Now, he has a truck that is ready for completion but not before a significant chunk of money is spent. Paint is not cheap these days, and as I’ve learned, it’s not about just throwing down some color and leaving. There’s hours of prep work, masking, and taking parts off and putting them back on. Then you get to the actual paint stage, which is followed by additional hours’ worth of detailing work. The seller is likely wise to cut his losses early if he’s burned out on this project, but I certainly hope this truck was worse than it looked in the “as found” photos to make work done thus far worth it.
Wasn’t this featured here a while back?
Yes… last October.
This truck will never, ever be reassembled by anyone. The seller has murdered it.
It sure was, and I thought the same thing when I saw the white finish.
https://barnfinds.com/restoration-in-progress-1970-chevrolet-blazer-k5/
It looks familiar to me to
Yes, on October 8, 2023.
I seriously doubt this truck will ever see the road under power again.
Yes
Another dream squashed, too bad these are nice trucks.
I like the truck. Hopefully whoever buys this will complete the project since it’s disassembled?
It would not have to be a high end rotisserie rebuild if I were doing it?
It would still look good enough for a person to be proud of it.
Repaint it with some decent quality paint and interior work would really change the overall appearance.
Perhaps lower it some, (not dragging the pavement), put a good junk yard 350 motor in it and leave it a 3 speed stick on the column?
It would then be a good driver that I would be proud to own.
I hope someone saves it?
Just my oponion!
This has much work performed.
I would weld in some panels and put some small glaze over and be completed on truck.
The driveline would be updated to a LS and trans conversion plus rear end.
These are nice trucks and its worth it to take to the next steeps.
I hope the reserve is reasonable compared to cost needed to complete .
It would make a good low rider family cruiser. Very doable.
These trucks were the stars at BJ this year doing $125K-$200K frame-off nice.
This just might be the BARGAIN of the day!
Barrett-Jackson sold one Sat. night for $400,000. Get ready for these to join the “more money than brains club,” soon. If they’re not already there.
It’s a 2 wheel drive and it’s ugly. Worthless, but that’s only my opinion. Sadly, BJ auction gets to set prices on junk like this now.
Was asking $20k in a Facebook group so imagine the reserve is around there.
Yep, I just finished a marathon session of BJ auction watching and they sold tons of theses resto-modded averaging 200K+.
They are the new Bronco, now that those have all been restored. Grab this one while you can.
That means International Scouts are NEXT!
Looks like it sold for a littl $8000…..rare little 2 wheel drive.
Listing shows reserve not met. I think we’ll be seeing it side sale again…
I built a 4wd version of one of these about 30 yrs ago and painted it white as well. It hadn’t been very well taken care of and stayed parked in a field before I got it but it was fairly straight. The two problem areas we found were that the rockers have a tendency to rust off (67-72, pickups as well) and the fiberglass roof will deteriorate and about all you can do is prep it, paint it, and hope for the best because they don’t make new ones. It was a great truck and looked so good I never took it back in the woods. Sold it for $4500.