Bright trim and chrome bumpers gleaming in the sun, this 1972 Chevrolet K5 Blazer in Milan, Illinois comes to market with its original title, and claimed original tires! After covering a mere 51,292 miles of hills and dales over 52 years (according to the seller), this green and white 4×4 seeks its first new title since the Nixon Presidency. Hopefully the seller, like the late President, can proclaim “I’m not a crook!”
You don’t see the optional Tachometer too often, according to the seller, and it’s especially interesting with the automatic transmission, though I like a tach on any car. One might spy the small brake pedal and think this truck was converted from manual to automatic, but an Internet image search suggests Chevrolet fitted the small brake pedal to automatic-equipped Blazers of this vintage. Generally I rake the leaves from a vehicle before offering it for sale, but to each their own. Rust-through in numerous places should be expected from this Land of Lincoln classic. Not to cast shade on the less-than-1000-miles-per-year claim, but normally a driver’s seat only shows this much wear after 100,000 miles. Maybe the owner for 52-years was in steak knife sales, clumsily always forgetting to remove the merchandise before sliding into the Captain’s chair.
One of the buyer’s first questions should always be “is your name on the title?” A dealer can legally sell a car when the titled owner is not present to sign paperwork, but otherwise that’s called “skipping” the title, a crime in all the 50 states. If you’re looking at a title with the name “Fred Flintstone” on it, someone in the room needs to produce a Driver’s License with Fred’s name on it. Once that’s settled, it’s time to address other matters.
The claimed original 350 cid (5.7) V8 offered a step up from the standard 250 cid (4.1L) inline six cylinder and 307 cid (5.0L) V8 mills. Touting standard power front disc brakes, Chevrolet positioned the 1972 Blazer as the “best all-around sports vehicle,” on road or off. Thanks to lov2xlr8 for some details.
Chevrolet hit a home run for many buyers and its bottom line by introducing the Blazer in 1967 on its pickup truck platform, an upgrade from the Ford Bronco and other smaller 4x4s of the day. Ford followed suit with its second-generation Bronco. Check out more pictures and details here on eBay, where at least 11 bidders have this forgotten 4×4’s street value above $6500. Be sure to hold back most of your budget for the Internet Parts Fairy and the New Replacement Metal Fairy, ’cause they gonna take a bite before this once-sweet green pea hits the trails again. Do you prefer this full-sized Blazer or smaller ’70s off-road trucks like the International Harvester Scout or Ford Bronco?
A nod goes to the author, who by rights, is probably bound to uphold the sellers claims, even though I know full well, he believes different. This truck had 52,000 miles in 1974, and by the looks, led a rough life. Original tire,,,I don’t understand why some folks think they can baffle the public with claims like that. I suppose it goes to the saying, “everybody is $tupid except me”. If it even moves, hang a plow on it and park it ’round back of the cabin,, oh, gee, we’ll miss out on thousands of riches,,,really now, anyone dumb enough paying $6grand, um, deserves it.
Seriously? Same truck, restored sold last week for $110k before fees on BAT easy enough project for someone with metal working skills.
Sold for a high bid of $9,304, 61 bids among 16 bidders. Starting price was .99 cents with no reserve.
Steve R
20 years ago I was “dumb enough” to pay $4,500 for a decent ’75 K5 Blazer, that is now worth about $35,000. If the ’72 shown here was local, I would be dumb enough to pay $6K for it. I am looking for a winter shop project, and I like this one because it is relatively unmolested. I have been building/restoring K5s, Corvettes and other collector cars for decades. I have tackled rustier rides before, and consider this one quite saveable. Once completed, many dummies would quickly pay $50K for it. I do the work myself as a hobby, and it would likely consume around $12K in parts/supplies. “Stupid” or not, the market for this type of ride is very strong, and has been steadily building for years.
But the “I have no idea what first gen K5’s sell for but I know it ain’t worth this much” clearly he must know better. :)
In checking for rust look inside the doors and rear fenders. Thin coat of some sort of primer turned to rust before 8 months of ownership on our new ’72. Front fenders weren’t much better. Even had rust coming on the underside of the hood and inside the tail gate. After a month tearing the whole rig apart and painting and undercoating we had a great all purpose machine.
Original tires, indeed. Probably will clean right up with some Armour All and a little wind.
What? They parked it because it needed new tires? I’ll never understand why vehicles like this get parked so early in their lives.
At $7k end the auction and take the money and run before the bidders sober up and realize what they bid on. Its sad to me that they let this rust out so bad now its salvage what you can in parts and scrap it
Must not have had air compressors back then.
There’s plenty of optimism about this one. That combined with lots of ability or a thick check book could result in a fine looking machine. A 12-grand resto will not get you BaT money.
Howard is the voice of reason on this forum and speaks from age and wisdom. Try not to let it get to you.
Wow, I just read the ebay description. Owner sez the “little pockets of rust are shown in the pictures”, to paraphrase.
Yep, he definitely fulfilled that..in every picture…man-oh-man. Dreamers born every day.
I’m not saying it’s worth it, but is he a dreamer? He started the auction at .99 cents without reserve, bidders are free to bid or pass. More than a few sellers are out of touch with reality and think their cars are worth a fortune, just like there are people on this site that are out of touch with reality and think its 1994. Buyers determine value, not sellers, they are the ones that need to open their wallet in order to complete a transaction.
There will always be bargains out there, they tend to go to the people who put in the work to find them before they are advertised and are not married to a specific make, model or year.
Steve R
Here we go again…yes I can not agree more.
It’s truly amazing the conceit of some people that frequent this forum.
In fact I get a kick out of it. It is fun.
Ya’all have a nice day!
Origanallity on one of these is what buyers of these pre 1973’s Blazer’s look for.
Once you start cutting these up and replacing floor pans etc original is no more.
too cheap to clean it out and put a set of tires on and wants to score all the money for it. greed.
Cheap and lazy. I’ll bet you lunch the tires they put on will be used maypops.
Rust Rust Rust