builup or restored

[chevyracefan]

i will be purchasing a blazer soon 69-72.the ? i have is this.if anyone can speak from experience about this i would appreciate.i can't decide to start from scratch with a "beater" and do it myself or buy one ready to roll.i will have professionals do some of the installs if i go the "beater" route.i will have about 10 grand to work with.

 

[Gold Rush]

For less than 10K you can buy one already in perfect shape with money left over. If you go the beater route you may have to spend that much or more. Especially if you buy one with alot of rust. A guy can never sell his rig for as much as he has into it, so if you can get a real nice one with the money you have to spend then go that route. Just my $.02 on this. I spent $15,000 restoring (and beefing up) my 75K5. As a mechanic most of the work was done by myself and I really enjoy working on my rig. Body work is not my cup of tea so that was done by a body shop. So if you want to go wheelin now and don't have alot of time or knowledge about 4X4's then buy one already built. If you have lots of time and knowledge and enjoy working on rigs then buy a beater and fix it up.

Good luck with your search.
David 75K5

http://www.renschler.org/~goldrush

 

[Eagle86K5]

GR could not agree with you more....

<font color=green>Eagle86K5

<font color=red>Only guy I know that can get out of line in a one car funeral

 

[Waxer]

Ditto

 

[Blazer79]

Grim reaper is right, you'll spend more if you do it yourself. I've already spent over $3000 on mine, and I'm not near finished yet. It didn't have any rust either.

Check my page under 'Restoring It' to see what happened to that money. http://www.freeyellow.com/members7/blazer79

<font color=purple>////////
Go 79s!!!</font color=purple>

 

['73 K5]

I've done both before and I am enjoying the "beater" route more. I had a CJ-7 for a while that I bought after it was done. I could smoke Mustangs with it and every girl looked, but it just wasn't the same. I hardly did any of the work on it. Just minor stuff. And it wasn't 100% the way I wanted it.
I'm having way more fun with the '73 Blazer I've got now. When I bought it, the thing was completely thrashed. Sure it costs more money, but I can do things EXACTLY like I want and its just damn fun drinking some beers and working on your truck with your friends. Your truck just becomes a part of you when you sweat and bleed on it...repeatedly. And I'm learning a ton of stuff along the way. Good luck either way.

 

[kim tate]

For me personally, I've got to agree with Ryan (73K5) for the satisfaction of doing it myself, the need to always learn something new, and I've met some great professionals in my community that go out of their way to offer advice and guidance (and that certainly goes for this forum as well). Gold Rush and the others just make too much sense for me!! I will admit that I would love to own a solid truck built by Gold Rush, Depdog, Grim Reaper and some others, but alas - I can't have all I want!

 

[Brian 89KBlazer]

Re: buildup or restored

I'm with Kim and the others. Sure Depdog, White Knight, Grim, and lots of others could build you a mean rig but what do you learn in the process?? The old addage "real 4x4's are built, not bought" comes to mind. That's 90% of the reason I'm building my own rig. Then when Depdog or WK talks about that ring that a seal sits against or the gusset plate on the underside of the body or whatever, I'll have been there and know what they are talking about!

Good Luck
Brian
Still in search of the TBI KING!!