It pays to be patient! Check out these pictures...

[diesel4me]

I hate rust!!!!...

Having owned my share of K5's and pickups that looked like the underside of that yellow K5 in your photos,I can say RUST SUCKS!!..most every GM truck up here looks just like that in about 5 years..

You scored a very sweet original unmolested K5,judging by the pictures!..I like that green color,I had a 73 K10 that was the same green,and I think my 74 K20 was that color originally,it was green under the hood and behind the seats,but it was blue metallic everywhere else!..

As for those 15X8" 6 lug rally wheels,I see tons of them here in junkyards and swap meets--even found a complete set with center caps in the DUMP that fit my 2wd 79 C10 I had(5 lug though)--they are on my 81 G10 van now!...

I dont see why they are so scarce in your area??..maybe dealers didn't "jazz up" many trucks in your area,here they usually most always add an "appearance package",and things like A/C and automatic trannies..its not often you see trucks here with 4 speeds,I'd guess one out of every 6-10 trucks had manual tranny's here..I guess yankees are too lazy to shift and clutch!..

 

[blazinzuk]

I know of two blazers in my area, rust free, and in great ciondition I just know better than to buy em


both even have factory wheels

good find for you

Damn Arizonians. Someday I will build a hot rod and then I will need all you non rustbelt guys as my freinds.

 

[atho]

maybe I missed it, where did you actually buy that k5 from? when i was in the market for my truck, i couldnt find anything around here except beater rust buckets. i found mine on ebay in Minne-so-cold, and it was decent because it wasnt used on the road.
I see you dont live too far away, either!

 

[Craig Artzner]

maybe I missed it, where did you actually buy that k5 from? when i was in the market for my truck, i couldnt find anything around here except beater rust buckets. i found mine on ebay in Minne-so-cold, and it was decent because it wasnt used on the road.
I see you dont live too far away, either!

My Blazer first appeared on eBay in August. The reserve was not met so it was removed. I scoured collectorcartrader.com every other day for about a month and found it again.

I finally bought it from the guy on December 10th (he was out of Middletown, OH, just south of Dayton). It was a 3-hour drive for me. The internet is a beautiful thing!

 

[1-bad-burb]

man, your lucky, I've been searchin for close to 2 months and havent found anything in decent shape, I'm lookin for a 6.2 powered truck/burb/blazer and the only stuff I've found around here have been 350s, I found one 3/4 ton 86 with a 6.2/SM465 combo (EXACTLY what I want! ) and it was a ragged piece of JUNK I've been searchin ebay/autotrader/ and the forums every day, still nothinoh well LOL



anyways that is a beautiful blazer! lucky bastard

 

[BlazerFarm]

That's a great looking truck. I hope to restore my '76 to that condition. I know what you mean about trying to find those 15x8 wheels. I looked for about 2 months before I was able to find a guy whose dad worked at Fort Lewis and got me a set of rusty(ish) 15x8s off a scrapped CUCV. I could find 15x7s and 15x6s all day but not the 8s.

I did what you did and sandblasted them except I painted mine the GM argent color. Like you, I wanted the dog dish hubcaps. I did the 32s like you are talking about. Here's that thread. http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106745
So congratulations on the find. You'll love it.

 

[Craig Artzner]

That's a great looking truck. I hope to restore my '76 to that condition. I know what you mean about trying to find those 15x8 wheels. I looked for about 2 months before I was able to find a guy whose dad worked at Fort Lewis and got me a set of rusty(ish) 15x8s off a scrapped CUCV. I could find 15x7s and 15x6s all day but not the 8s.

I did what you did and sandblasted them except I painted mine the GM argent color. Like you, I wanted the dog dish hubcaps. I did the 32s like you are talking about. Here's that thread. http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106745
So congratulations on the find. You'll love it.

Awesome! I thought I was the only one in the world who was looking for a set of those rims. That yellow Blazer I got mine off of was a former CUCV so that figures. I'm pretty sure they quit making those rims for civilian Blazers after '75, right?

 

[Uncle Fester]

If anyone is interested in them, I have a full set of four 15x8 Rally Wheels, NO CENTER CAPS or BEAUTY RINGS, but I will let them go for ???????? Make me a offer, they are in Cheyenne Wyoming. I will post them for sale is the sale area....

 

[stallion85]

That is one clean looking K5! Nice score. The interior looks immaculate I would love to have a nice K5 I could DD around here. As it sits right now the M1008 is a headache to drive around with 42's and a loud Diesel

Congrats! 5K is a great price IMO.......

 

[rjfguitar]

I LOVE the interior. IMHO, this sometimes can be the biggest variable if a truck passes the "clean" inspection or is written off as a pile. The interior can tell so many stories... actual miles, owner's interest in taking care of the vehicle. Many times people take the interior condition for granted.

I love the wood paneling. Just goes to show how nice these upper end trucks were, even in 1973!

I made a similar score the same week you bought your K5, but an '81 K30 CC 4x4. You've got me beat with that impressive 67K original miles, as mine has 93K, OM.

 

[BlazerFarm]

I'm pretty sure they quit making those rims for civilian Blazers after '75, right?

Well, I don't know if that's the case or not. I know the Ralley wheels on Blazers are 15x8s but I don't know if they offered 15x8 regular steel wheels along side the Ralleys or not. I know the white spoke 15x8s were available for a long time. You've got to figure that fleet trucks got steel wheels but those may have been the smaller 15x7s or 15x6s.

 

[Craig Artzner]

When I saw this '74 Blazer come up on eBay this past summer out of Cleveland I thought "There's a good straight Blazer." All the body lines were straight and there was no visible rust...

That was until I went out to look at it and crawled underneath...The body mounting surface that sits on the mount was GONE. In it's place someone had welded a metal plate directly to the frame mount to keep the Blazer together. The thing rode like a Sherman tank. You can't see them in the picture, but the Blazer had coilover shocks on it to boot, which didn't help the already-horrendous ride quality.

However, as bad as the Blazer was, I REALLY wanted those 15x8 steel wheels. I had been looking for a set of them for over 10 years. I almost bought the truck just to get the rims. Well I watched the auction and emailed the winning bidder afterwards and he contacted me and agreed to sell me the rims. When I met up with him he told me that even though he bidded up to $1600 for the Blazer, he was extremely dissappointed upon pickup and the seller ended letting it go for only $700...

An update here, I just found this Blazer for sale on craigslist today for 6K. I wonder if the guy fixed the frame mounts and stuff. I've been to his house, he certainly had the equipment and capability to do so.

 

[BlazerFarm]

Hopefully he did a LOT of work on that undercarriage. I think it's good the truck wasn't scrapped outright. As the years go by these Blazers are definitely disappearing.

 

[C4]

Good buy, good job.

PRICELESS........is feeling good

 

[rdn2blazer]

An update here, I just found this Blazer for sale on craigslist today for 6K. I wonder if the guy fixed the frame mounts and stuff. I've been to his house, he certainly had the equipment and capability to do so.

There is no fixing that kind of rust IMHO.

 

[Chief Brody]

What kind and size wheels are those on your "new" 1973 blazer? What color are they...white or silver or chrome. Did the stock have a beauty ring or is that just the wheel with a hubcap on it?

 

[American84K5]

Beautiful

 

[Craig Artzner]

What kind and size wheels are those on your "new" 1973 blazer? What color are they...white or silver or chrome. Did the stock have a beauty ring or is that just the wheel with a hubcap on it?

The wheels are 15x8 stock white steel wheels. From what I understand they were not available with trim rings at the time, just the caps. I went by this '73 Blazer ad when I was putting them together.

These wheels are somewhat rare for normal civilian-bought Blazers, but they come standard on most CUCV military Blazers from the '80s.

If you want to build your Blazer exactly like Brody's from "Jaws", you'll want the standard 15x6 steel rims, which are pretty common.

 

[Chief Brody]

How much rust is too much rust when selecting a vehicle to buy?

How do you know when the amount of rust is more than you can fix or replace?

 

[supersize75k5]

How much rust is too much rust when selecting a vehicle to buy?

How do you know when the amount of rust is more than you can fix or replace?

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result..


To me with that deep of rust it will come back, maybe in 3 years, maybe in 10 but if you are serious about painting a pretty picture don't start with a rolled up paper with torn edges and water spots.


More so this is true if you don not have the tools, patience or help to do it and do it right. Labor for that job could be bargained for below shop price but you get what you pay for and some guy doing that deep of a job want to be payed to satisfaction to make doing it right worth it. 65-100 per hour is not out of line.

Just form being around the body shop here for the last 5 years I would say 17-25k to do it 100 percent correctly with quality parts, prep, and paint.

Your price = family time, sanity, do overs, 2-5 years and maybe a 2000-5000 bucks.


Its 100 percent worth it to save up, send out some friends in the southwest to scout out any you find and pay for the shipping. Then simply make it your own.


-shawn