Sometimes a vehicle will never be restored back to like-new condition, I just have to wrap my skull around that notion. I still look at every single vehicle – car, truck, motorcycle, camper, boat, snowmobile, chain saw – and picture what it would look like parked in our 1,400-car garage in perfect condition, and then I usually wake up. This 1972 Chevrolet K5 Blazer plow truck is one of those cases. This plow boy is listed on eBay with no reserve and a bid price of $888 with only a day left to get your bids in. It’s located in East Sparta, Ohio.
Yeah, this one is rusty, whew. Maybe even more so than anything that I have ever driven, maybe, which is hard to believe given some of the swiss-cheese’mobiles that I’ve had over the decades. New parts are available for these first-generation Blazers, of course. It’s just a decision as to how much money and time a person wants to put into fixing some of that rust or whether to just keep it maintained and use it as a winter-only plow truck.
With a Hagerty #3 good value of $11,200, even given this truck’s probably sub-$1,000 hammer price (minus shipping), it wouldn’t take long to ring up an order for a few thousand dollars worth of replacement metal panels and parts. Then when you add in a few thousand dollars worth of paint and interior parts and drivetrain work and you’d quickly surpass that value.
Here is the seller’s entire listing: “Really rusty 1972 Chevy Blazer with snow plow, 6 cylinder runs good, battery not good have to jump it & gas tank has dirt. 4 wheel drive works. Must be hauled tires not good, Ohio title.” Oddly enough, the interior looks surprisingly good, at least compared to the exterior. The passenger seat is missing but it’s a good place to haul a couple of shovels for your part-time job plowing parking lots in the winter. The back seat looks great, in fact the whole interior looks like a fairly reasonable restoration if a person chose to go that route.
The first-generation K5 Blazer ran from 1969 to 1972 and this example has the smallest engine available which would have been a 250 cubic-inch inline-six with 110 hp. I can go either way on this Blazer, go whole-hog on a restoration which would not be cheap or financially wise, or just fix and maintain it as needed and keep it for winter duty to protect your really nice vehicle/s from salt damage. Any thoughts on this Blazer? What would you do?
Already sold at $895. Wish I had the money to get some of these car. Because i love car’s but I don’t have money or a house yet but once I do I might pay some of these cars.
Being without much money to work with you’d be much better off starting out with something newer. Start looking around the junkyards in your area to see what kind of cars are there to get parts from. Once you get a good idea of which car/truck you might want start keeping track of what’s available for sale within your price range. When you get ready to buy and see an ad for a vehicle, do a search for common problems and go through posts on repair message boards to see if the parts are available at the junkyard. Popular problem items usually go pretty quick, you’ll also get a feel for how tough (or easy) it might be to do common repairs. All of what I just outlined will cost you nothing and will get you into the hobby without actually owning a vehicle!
Poor thing looks like it’s been rode hard, VERY hard and put up wet. LOL
Something tells me it’ll be relisted.
It’s worth significantly more in parts than the selling price. It will be relisted, but piece by piece. Someone that is currently restoring a Blazer probably bought it or it was scooped up someone that “specializes” in 67-72 Chevy/GMC trucks.
Steve R
Poor job mounting the snow plow,it wouldn’t have taken much to build some extension adaptors so that the hood could be left uncut. Even though this is a rust bucket there’s no need to butcher the only good sheet metal on the whole truck. I have a freind that always said it takes just as long to do a bad job as it does to do a good job. I think he was trying to point out that quite often when you cut corners you usually end doing it twice. I know it doesn’t really matter on this POS I just don’t like shoty work.
Quickly sold due to being iconic with patina.
Anybody looking for this kind of stuff, check Michigan ( especially the UP der hey), Wis. or Minnesota. Every farm or rural property had a plow truck like this, and still might. It’s where they ended up when the body fell off, but still ran great, and this was a good one, most don’t look this good. K5’s are getting scarce, and unless the frame is crumbling, always fixable,,,K5’s, that is.
From the Marquette area and while their remotely common
their not widely prevalent. I see Newer Trucks – SUV’s and
Cars that being held together by a wing and a 🙏🏻that are
often heard before being seen. Rust bucket clunkers. 🤘🏻
In N. Wis. many vacation cabins are way off the beaten path, all with long driveways, and usually next to every shed ( rarely inside) are one of these, but more likely to be a pickup( or half a pickup)It’s the last place they go before junking them. Btw, love the Marquette area, and the Keweenaw peninsula.
Howard, that reminds me of a great story! We where working out toward Onaway (Northern lower) on land owned by a large hunt club. One of the guys on the crew had a mid-60’s GMC pickup and spotted one with an old camper mounted in back of it parked beside a an old unused building. He ran down the caretaker of the place and asked about it, told him he was wanting a parts vehicle. “Oh heck, that’ll run all day long!” We returned the next weekend and got it running in a couple of hours and made the 100 mile trip home with it.
Howard, my son went to Michigan Tech, so we visited the peninsula often. I bought a 52 GMC logging truck in a small town near Copper River, took the 270, 5 speed trans and Brown-Lipe over/under drive box out of it in the lot I found it in in a snow storm. Loaded it all in the back of my 83 K/20 and drove back to Minnesota. 270 is going into a 39 Chevy sedan delivery with a Camaro/S10 5 speed behind it. Brownie box slated for a 50 Chevy 3800 one ton, behind a 500 Cadillac and 400 turbo.
I lived in Marquette during the 70’s. I had a 74 big Merc, doors and trunk rusted clear thru in 3 years. I would like any rusty Chevy from Marquette County. It’s got it’s own song.
Mount a tractor seat over there, and let Kurt Rusell take you for a ride.
Dan in Texas….Loved your post! Not sure if everyone will get it but I’ve seen the movie so it struck me as funny when I saw what you said. Lol!
Mount a Vette body on the frame and go plow snow.It won’t rust out
Hope it’s restored atleast to driver condition. If not further..
Full roof tops are getting hard to find and more pricey. If bones are solid why not.?
Sheet metal is designed to be replaced.
If your more skilled or have more time than money; you can use less expensive replacement panels and work with them.
If you saw the state of this mustang before I started. You would probably want to drive that blazer as is, lol.
Cheers
it’s gone… but, it was way too far gone .. plows are driven hard, esp. if it is company owned ( which I think this one was) ..I’dda let it rust in peace
I don’t believe I ever saw one of these with a six banger, kind of took me by surprise. With power brakes as well?
Had picked up one similer to that back in the 90’s
Motor n running gear were in great shape. Found another body and made fir a happy union.
Although not a 1st gen, found an ’85 in it’s original (& elderly) owner’s hands. Never wrecked, not rusted, original paint- only deviation is that it sports a custom-built 383 instead of the wheezy 305.
His wife is in poor health, so we agreed to talk/finish late this summer with the sale. Will be moving across the country in about 2 years…if I get it, I will be taking it
I’ve got a ’76 version of that vehicle that I now use strictly to plow our long driveway and as an onsite vehicle in the summertime. I did a partial restoration on it in 88, and in 92 a guy hit me in the side and it was totaled. The drivetrain is in great condition and its got the nicest running 350 I’ve ever owned. Just can’t bring myself to scrap or sell it. Owned it for 30 years so as long as it does what I need it to do-itll be a keeper. I even threw a brush paint job on it last fall-best $6.00 I ever spent!
I really like the body style of these trucks
Take the top and doors off and drink beer on country roads..I would pay 800 for it but it would have to be right next door