Chevy’s Blazer was voted 1995‘s Truck of the Year by noted automotive authority, Playboy magazine. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe ’97 Blazer might like to play, owing to its LS1 power, but would you be a big boob to pay its asking price?
Playboy is famous for models with exaggerated proportions. Coincidentally, yesterday’s fashionably named 1983 Pierre Cardin Evolution 1 also looked a little amply-proportioned, featuring an alarming nose extension to its Eldorado underpinnings.
Sadly for the seller, nobody was interested in paying by the foot, and that rare, odd, and ultimately weird designer ride ended up in the clearance rack with an overwhelming 84% Crack Pipe loss.
We like modded cars and trucks here, ones that stand out, or even better, wheelie stand out. In juxtaposition to yesterday’s all show and no go custom Caddy, today’s 1997 Chevy Blazer is kind of a stealth fighter considering its semi-stock outward appearance hiding a Corvette mill under its hood.
Mid-sized sport utility vehicles - or SUVs - used to be all the rage. In fact, they were what killed off most of the cool station wagons. Then gas prices started to creep up like cheap underwear and suddenly they were the automotive equivalent of Mel Gibson.
As vilified and perhaps gauche as traditional mid-sized SUVs are today, this particular one holds unique appeal. First off, it’s a two-door. When was the last time you saw a two-door Blazer? That body style, in its second gen finery is pretty darn good looking, sporting a greenhouse that’s reminiscent of - dare I say it - a Sierra XR4Ti.
Sure, this one also rocks 20-inch chrome douche donuts that would make Spring Breakers proud, but it wouldn’t be too much trouble to kick those to the curb and put on something a little more sensible and less blingtastic.
The rest of the body looks okay in its coat of Frigidaire white with just a few bumps and lumps here and there. The interior looks equally serviceable if a little tired, and the driver’s throne proves my theory that GM was shite for putting seats in their ‘90s cars that don’t turn as flat as a two-day old birthday balloon.
Still, it’s what’s under the hood of this 203,813 (holy mother of dog!) mile Blazer, as that’s where the party begins. The dealer ad for the truck doesn’t go into detail as to the origin of the LS1, or whether the owner of the Corvette from which it was pulled is going to show up and demand it back.
Regardless, the biggest motor to have come from the factory in this generation of Blazer was the 4.3-litre Vortec V6, so the 5.7 here gives this truck bragging rights. Yes it’s backed up by an automatic which would not be your transmission of choice, but you have to take the bad with the good in situations like this.
Speaking of which, you now need to voice an opinion on whether or not this LS1-rocking Blazer’s price is a good thing. The dealer - strangely named Classic Car Liquidators - has set the bar at $7,999. That would be whackadoodle if this were a stock Balzer especially with the wear and tear of of over 200k on the clock. But of course this isn’t a stock one, it is instead one that comes with an LS1 in its holster, and that’s potentially a game changer.
What do you think, is $7,999 a fair price for this Ballsy Blazer? Or, does that take this Truck from hot centerfold to just too damn old?
You decide!
Classic Car Liquidators, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Shep Patterson for the hookup!
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