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CLICK BELOW TO VIEW PICTURE GALLERIES Blazer being built -- Some of my mods -- Blazer Pics My interest in Trucks Started in the 80’s when I built a Lowered Truck. I did the show circuit for a few years and went to Bloom to cruise on a Saturday Night and almost got crushed by hundreds of Big Trucks. So I said to myself, I’m just gonnna have to build a big Truck. In 1991, a friend had a old beat up 72 Blazer, and he was moving and was gonna let it go to the junk yard, so I looked at it and said I can fix that. That was before I really looked at it though. It had a tree growing through the floor. It Y’d under the steering column, and I opened the drivers door, and the whole front end kinda sprung forward. Before I could tell my friend not to open the other door, it happened, it basically broke in half. The body, no rockers, no floor, basically the only thing holding it together was the tranny cover. So we strapped it together and hauled it back the the two car garage that I rented. It had gallons of Bondo, no motor or transmission, bald tires, it was just a basket case. Over the next 3 or 4 years I worked on it, a little at a time, mostly expecting it to be a off road racer to take to the Line Mountain 7-miler. It was pretty decent though, so I decided to make it street legal and made it a everyday driver. I got a job building wooden roller coasters and it was the best transportation I had so I drove it from Shamokin to Hershey Park everyday. It was 120 miles, roundtrip, everyday for 10 months. Then we had a blizzard, and they use lots of salt on the roads. After the job was done I lifted it, and got some 38’s, then the body started to go. It was nice but not show quality. In 1998, I decided to fix it up again. While at the Bloom Jamboree I met a guy that had a frame for a blazer and he sold it to me for $50.00. I took it to a local powder coater and had it coated black, then I took my truck apart piece by piece. Leaf springs, rears, motor, transmission, ect. Painted everything and assembled it back together. It took 5 years of Saturdays and any spare time I had, cause I had a full time job, and my garage was in my home town of Sunbury, which was 17 miles away. I had a 400cu engine, it was strong. I had it on a engine stand four a couple of years and when it finally came time to install it, it had a tapping noise. It wasn’t there when I took it out. I tore down the motor and found 2 wood screws, in two different cylinders. It was junk. I went to Lens Automotive in Shamokin to see about a rebuild. I had a junk 400, and a 350 four bolt main. He suggested putting the two together and building a 383 stroker engine. That was great! Several months later I installed it. Now I had a rolling chasis, motor, and transmission. A friend helped me put new gears in the rears, and it was time to do the body. After 5 years of Saturdays, several trips to spring and fall Carlisle, I had new inner and outer fenders, rust free doors that came from Arizona, and quarter halfs, they don’t make full quarters they had to be mig welded together. Then I met Dave Madera from Off-Road Fabrication in Shamokin, and talked about building a rollcage. A few months later, I hauled my truck to his shop and together we built a rollcage out of .095wah 1 1/2” tubing. This guy was great 160 feet of tube, and bent it all by hand, no hydraulics. He didn’t screw up a single piece. It took one weekend, then back to my shop. I grounded every weld, and off to the powder coat shop, for a coat of aluminum basecoat. The whole cage will lift out of the truck in one piece. I got the backseat from a Mitsubishi eclipse at joes auto parts (a local junkyard). The rear seat sits on the floor of the car, so I had to rip the floor out of the car and fab it into the cage. After that, I finished the body work, and now it was time for paint. I contacted Randy Kratzer from Kratzer Auto Body in Sunbury, and asked if I could rent his paint booth. He agreed, and a few weeks later I showed up on a Friday morning and started to prep my truck for paint. 23 and a half hours after I arrived, the paint was done. It looked great! Now I needed interior, and I really couldn’t do that myself, so I contacted Jeff Farnsworth at Farnsworth Auto Upholstery in Selinsgrove, and got my seats covered in Purple tweed, next he did the kick panels, doors and rear panels in flames. I went back alittle while later and had him do the bikini top. I would really like a lot more lift and 49’s in the future, but then it wouldn’t be legal. What a decision!!
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