I’m going to level with you all, right from the get-go: this vehicle is kind of a blank slate to me. And reading online reviews, both from the time and more recent, as well as the many CCs written on the first generation S-10, has left me none the wiser. Oh well, guess we’ll have to try a different approach. Or even several.
Enthusiasm: The Chevy S-10 Blazer? What a superb (and immaculate) machine! From its humble two-door beginnings in 1983 to the four-door wagon seen here, it kept GM in the “small SUV” game against Jeep, Ford and an increasing amount of Japanese and European competitors. From the venerable Iron Duke to the thirsty but gutsy 4.3 litre V6, it featured a wide array of choice power plants to motivate two or four wheels.
Irony: Oh, and the Irv Rybicki styling was soooo edgy. It really looked trendy in 1983 and even more ten years later. You can tell they really tried hard on this one, chucking away the rule book – but keeping the ruler. And it was totally well-put-together, as well.
Movie preview: (Dramatic orchestral score) In a world where SUVs were booming… There was a niche below the big boys… They thought a baby Blazer would do well… Someone in Tokyo obviously agreed… But was he alone?… Starring the S-10 chassis… and a four-door body… with an all-wheel-drivetrain… It’s… Chevrolet Blazer Tahoe. Out this summer; a General Motors production.
Elizabethan sonnet:
‘Tis no easy task, gazing at that rear,
To find much to say – e’en for a Shakespeare.
The front and the side similarly blow.
Is there no good angle on this Tahoe?
Methinks there is truth in the oft-told myth
That GM suck’d ass under Roger Smith.
Seinfeld: Tahoe, huh? What is the deal with that name? Do lakes and cars have nothing in common? And why did they pick that one? Imagine being in the room when they looked through the atlas to find that name. Were Erie, Titicaca and Finger also shortlisted?
Binary: 01010100 01101000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01000011 01101000 01100101 01110110 01110010 01101111 01101100 01100101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01100010 01100001 01100111 00101110 00100000 01000011 01101100 01100101 01100001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101111 01110101 01100111 01101000 00101110 00100000
Limerick:
This interior’s an ode to plastic,
That binnacle’s far from fantastic.
And the grey “mouse fur” hide,
Present throughout this ride,
Makes the cabin look downright craptastic.
Well, there you have it. This is all I could do to populate the spaces between the pictures. Aside from the near-pristine condition of this 30-plus-year-old Blazer, it has little to recommend it in my eyes and there is nothing I can really add of value to the discussion. But I did try.
Related posts:
Curbside Classic: 1985 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer – GM’s Deadly Sin #5: Sloth, by PN
Curbside Classic: 1991 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer Four Door – You Can’t Blame A Guy For Trying, by Richard Bennett
CC Outtake: 1990 Chevrolet S-10 Cameo – Standing Corrected, by Mr. Tactful
CC Outtake: 1991 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer – An American In Paris Rome, by Joseph Dennis
CC Outtake: Chevrolet S10 2WD – Nomad Wanna Be?, by PN
Curbside Outtake: The Cleanest First Generation Chevy S-10?, by Carlsberg66
Vintage R&T Comparison: 1983 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer, Bronco II and Montero – The New Compact SUVs, by Yohai71
COAL: 1988 Chevrolet S10 – Donor Turned Flipper, by David Saunders
COAL: 1986 Chevrolet S-10 – All My Friends Know The Lowrider, by Nelson James
COAL: 1985 Chevrolet S-10 – Can’t Drive 55, by Marc
COAL: 1989 Chevrolet Blazer S-10- A New Beginning, by Carlsberg66
These have some style – the S-10 was reasonably advanced for 1982 and when the 2-door Blazer appeared a year later it had faint echoes of the ’55 Nomad in the shape of the quarter windows. It’s even noticeable on this 4-door model, not appearing until 1991 despite it being obvious as soon as the Jeep Cherokee XJ entered the market and immediately was a Greatest Hit as a 4-door which heavily outsold its’ 2-door form.
You’d think it wouldn’t take that long to adapt a body-on-frame design, but GM was constrained in light-truck production capacity. They *did* finally add a 15-passenger extended van to their even more aged G series at around the same time, and an extended pickup as part of the GMT400 program, both models that Ford and Dodge had offered since the ’70s, so there may have been expansion and/or reallocation of that capacity in the late ’80s that led to a wishlist of light truck variants hitting the street in 1988-91.
Leased a brand new 1992 S-10 Blazer. But it was a bit of a unicorn as we found out.
First the correct name was S-10 Blazer Tahoe Sport, but that was listed no where except the finance papers
Second, it had the upgraded 200hp Vortex V6. That engine was listed only in the Astro van. According to the salesperson, “this was someone’s special order all the way down the line. He didn’t waste his time on leather or any type of opening roof, but every other option box was checked. All was apparently roses and lollipops until GM told him no to the upgraded engine. But cooler heads prevailed and the unit was delivered as ordered. We were looking for an Astro, loaded and it def needed the Vortex engine. My wife pointed out this blazer and happily the salesperson pulled the inventory. Why yes, it would fit all the things we wanted! And it was a special order (which we know now would become the standard equipment the following year!)
It was burgundy over charcoal gray seats with “S-10Sport” embossed in bright red up near the shoulder area.
It was a great car…when it wasn’t in the shop.
First month the ABS went out taking total braking with it. While in the dealer, they “noticed that the paint was fading to white.” I told them we’d had the truck four weeks, but history revealed that unit was on their lots for 45-55 days; a big no no on any floor plan.
So they put me in a rental, and had ours for over a month. Went to pick it up, lot fellow who brought it over said the brakes don’t work. To m make my self feel better, I checked, pedal fell to the floor and no longer came back.
And I won’t bore you with the details of the paint runs, windshield moldings that came out and destroyed the top of the roof, the burnt valve guide seals, intermittent use of the digital dash, etc.
I made a deal worth the general manager:
You agree that at any time I want to trade out of this vehicle, you’ll give me pay off. He wrote that, we all signed.
And one month later I ran all the way up to the point of closing a sale. We decided on a Prizm for fuel and more simplicity. Then at the end I told him to appraisal my truck because I wanted to compare.
He came back, negative equity, ho ho.
I said do you have somewhere name of Dan B?
The eyes widened, you mean him? Yup. Go upstairs into his office and tell home that Chip is here ready to collect on my end of the deal!!
Well they made it all work out. They tried to get me into a more money making car-toe in the sand, yea can’t do that what with a new born…
Anyway, the very next day at 10 am a friend called the dealer. He was hot to buy but alas it was already on its way to be loaded onto a liner heading for Costa Rica with several thousand other leases returns
Bravo – thoroughly enjoyed this! I remember when the ’83s came out, and I agree that these were really well-styled. The trapezoidal rear side windows and canted B-pillars were particularly inspired.
One of these was my first car, as a black 2-door 4.3L GMC Jimmy, and it was the only car I have ever bothered to wax. It looked great!
Prominent memories:
1. the exhaust system fell apart immediately, which was big loud fun
2. you can’t believe a car this small gets twelve city miles per gallon
3. the HVAC system is entirely controlled by vacuum tubes, we ended up trading it in because we took the whole dash apart but could not figure out where in the world a leak or disconnection was keeping the A/C from turning on
4. it had what felt like 90 degrees of play in the steering
5. you could pop off the horn button and there was a little cavity where you could stash…stuff
Chip, Your story sadly explains why there were SO many of these among my schoolmates’ late-80’s households, and why this gold survivor is so rare. An idea everyone wanted, but executed very poorly by all 3 domestic automakers. I would probably have picked the Jeep (even the 2.8) over the GM or what we had, the Ford. As a Bronco 2/Explorer, they were horrible, at least until they got the 4.0 V6 and then began to flip. Our 2.9 flooded the distributor cap in every rain, and then would routinely crack each new one. Its alternator pulley with built-in fan was millimeters behind the battery posts, and shaved off a good portion of my Dad’s thumb one night. Unstable, unreliable, but great off-road. Also, girls in my school LOVED it, and all small cute-utes, and had turned against pony cars like my Firebird (equally junk) and preferred I borrow it on dates. SUV mania hit hard for every manufacturer, but when the first Pathfinders and 4Runners arrived at school, that was that. The bar was set.
Your reference to mouse-fur upholstery was an inspiration I needed 35 years ago.
In the late 1990s as Russia was opening up for trade, I had a prospect who wanted us to make and sell container loads of converted paper products. Trouble was he was short of cash and wanted to trade container loads of mouse pelts.
Hard as I tried, I could never find an outlet for the mouse pelts and finally had to decline the sale.
If I had only thought of calling on GM!. Imagine the sales appeal of having GENUINE mouse pelt seating surfaces rather than imitation. I could have closed the deal and probably won salesman of the quarter – maybe even year.
Drat.
I know these vehicles had a lot of issues with fit and finish, reliability etc but in the context of the time they drove pretty well. I spent a day in 1985 in a 2.8V6 S10 Blazer 5 speed, and compared to my 1981 4 cylinder Datsun 721 pickup, the Chevy felt plush, powerful and smooth. But by 1986, when I was shopping to replace the Datsun, the 2.8 powered Chevy and Jeep Comanche (last year that Jeep used the GM2.8 before the 4.0 inline six) felt like dogs compared to the 2.9 fuel injected Ranger which I ended up buying. And the rest of the Ranger felt at least as plush and smooth. It was in every way much better than the Datsun.
Amazing find. That has to be the nicest S10 I’ve ever seen and that includes the ones that were factory new.
These may tie early Vegas and early X-cars for sloppiest build quality of any GM product – they literally fell apart as soon as they left the factory. A work-fellow bought one new and it was back at the dealer at least monthly.
But this one is a beauty…makes me think maybe the owner had Mitsuoka give it a once over…:-)
Your find has the aura of a museum restoration, rather than just a perfectly preserved specimen. It’s an interesting find (for over there I mean), and while I want to like these, I just can’t see beyond what looks to me a botched door addendum. GM took SO long to add the rear doors and then when it was finally released, maybe I was too used to the two-door and the four always looked odd, a little awkward, and somewhat “off” whereas something like a Pathfinder works very well both ways. But an early (say ’85) two door S-10 Blazer or S-15 Jimmy in the two-tone paint (red and white for me, please) and the bigger wheels and tires with the 2.8…sign me up! I don’t think I ever drove one, and the ownership stories above are a little frightening (or would be annoying), so I guess I can be content in liking the look of the two-door as Rog and Irv intended.
I have owned two of these S-10 Blazers: a 1989 2-door and a 1991 4-door. Both were purchased new. Unlike many commenters, I had fairly good luck with both of mine. The 1989 was the first year of the Vortec 4.3 liter V6 with throttle body fuel injection. Red with a red cloth interior, top of the line factory aluminum wheels, including a tailgate mounted one, factory roof rack, automatic, Am/FM/Cassette, etc. Loved that car, although it was a bit thirsty and felt like it needed bigger brakes. Never had any issues with it. Alas, it was stolen one Sunday afternoon while we were in the cinema watching a movie and came out to find a Honda Accord parked where we had left our S-10 Blazer, with a pile of broken glass on the ground. The 1991 was a 4-door model painted white with a grey cloth interior and the 4.3 tuned port injection on the Vortec V6. Much better running engine and better fuel economy by several MPGs. Drawbacks were slipping quality control at Chevrolet, leading to replacement of driveshaft u-joints around 50,000 miles and a problem with the HVAC controls that shorted out and started smoking due to too much grease on the control panel’s sliding levers!
That is the cleanest S-10 I’ve ever seen. I’ve only ever driven one of these and it was pretty wornout but still it had plenty of grunt. What caught my eye is the bumper sticker “Eddie Wouldn’t Tow” referencing the legendary Native Hawaiian Lifeguard and Surfer Eddie Aikau. Maybe this S-10 started out life in Hawaii and was imported by the original owner. That would explain it’s concourse condition.
From Wikipedia:
Another variation of the aforementioned popular phrase is “Eddie wouldn’t tow.” This phrase is in reference to the method of big wave surfing in which one surfer must accelerate another surfer (the former on a jet ski, the latter towed on a surfboard) to the speed of a large, fast wave. It is also partially in response to the controversy over the “unnaturalness” of tow-in surfing; many surfers feel that being towed in to a wave, as opposed to paddling, is against the spirit of the sport.
Needs a Haiku:
Chevrolet Tahoe
Parked on street in Tokyo
Très inscrutable.
🙂
Bravo! Encore!