NOTE: sorry for the bad photo, but it was the only one I could muster
After I walked away from the Sunbird in last weeks COAL, the next one up was a 1989 S-10 Chevrolet Blazer 2 door, 4×4, with the 4.3L V-6, also known and the “chopped off 350”. This one was the second car of the owner of our company that he used as his winter car. He and I always got on well, and he was asking $8500 for it. It had…perhaps 60,000 miles on it, and I felt I was getting a decent deal. There were a few small rust spots down in the wheel wells forming but not noticeable unless you looked closely. It had a badly bent fender, and the boss agreed to give me whatever the cost was to fix it in cash as part of the deal. It was high trim level, most options and a two-tone brown and gold, which is a lot better looking that it sounds. This is the closest nicer image I could find, except that on mine the gold part was only at the bottom under the body trim.
GM sold the S-10 in this generation from 1982 until 1993, and were iterations were sold both in North and South America. They sold well…routinely over 200,000 units per year in their heyday here. The S-10, either a pickup or a Blazer, is another one of those automotive cockroaches everybody seems to have a story about. In base trim, the simple pickup was inexpensive, so you’d see it as a light commercial or municipal vehicle, as well as someone’s first car, new or used. My nephew had two of them and a good friend had one for 6 years and 170,000 miles and drove it to the junkyard when done, and it didn’t owe him a dime. They were simple, inexpensive, durable, and easy to fix…though very prone to rust and I rarely see them in these parts now.
Driving it was …unspectacular. The 4.3 was powerful and has stump pulling torque, and could get out of its own way. With a short wheelbase, it was a bit choppy in terms of ride quality. It guzzled gas, and that part was a rude awakening coming from the Sunbird : perhaps 16-18 MPG combined. I loved the space and hauling room, sitting up high, and it was great in the winter in snow and slush. It was problem free for the most part, except for 2 oxygen sensors that I was able to replace on my own with no tools in the apartment parking lot. Oh, and one day, right in the middle of a wedding of a high school friend, in broad daylight, parked at a church, somebody stole the Delco radio/cassette deck, in what was a generally decent area.
I rarely used the 4×4 or did any serious off-roading, like most folks (then and now ) who have capable off road vehicles. The one exception was during a 3 day 270 mile running relay in northern Michigan. I took it up some steep dirt hills and rough, rutted and sandy two-tracks. It did just fine, but as it was my only transportation, I didn’t feel the need to beat on it or smoke the tranny. I do recall that a friends Toyota 4-Runner seemed to be far more capable as an off roader and went places I wouldn’t dare take the Blazer, but he was more daring than I was.
I ended up keeping the Blazer for barely 18 months. I had in the fall of 95 a bit of an epiphany. I was 29, on my own, living with an old friend/roommate, working and supporting myself, and generally enjoying life. I had a girlfriend that felt like it would turn into more. I was going to grad school and paying for it on my own, living check to check, and had student loan and plastic debt.
It got to a point where I felt like I was getting nowhere in life, and it was really starting to get to me. I had to get my act together, and I wanted to be debt free and ultimately, I wanted to buy a house. First things first, I had to find ways to cut expenses. I figured eliminating a car payment was a good place to start. I put the Blazer in the Tradin’ Times, and interest was strong. A guy and his college age son came all the way up from Toledo to snag it for $4,500, which was slightly more than the car note, but at least I was free and clear. It was gone in about a week. And now, onto a self-imposed period of austerity. Would it move the financial needle for Carlsberg66?
While I liked these, both the pickup and SUV iterations and almost bought a pickup that had low miles on it in the mid 80s, I was just a bit more of a Ford fan than a Chevy fan and gravitated more towards the Ranger (which I would eventually buy).
The S-10 I nearly bought had the sweeter running 2.8 V6 with automatic transmission and being Florida it also had A/C. It put me in mind of an El Camino that had shrunk a bit, having a very car-like ride and feeling to it.
Unfortunately, Chevrolet/GM decided that as part of a model freshening that they would “update” the instrument cluster with a faux digital gauge cluster….apparently in an attempt to appeal to a younger customer. The S-10 lost me with that refresh, only to regain my interest with the new model in 94.
“It put me in mind of an El Camino that had shrunk a bit, having a very car-like ride and feeling to it.”
The S-10 has a lot of front suspension and frame components of the A/G body that the last El Camino used. The 4×4 used a lot of similar bits borrowed from the FWD Toronado/Riviera/Eldorado. It’s like it lost the rear coils and got some load-rated leaves. The biggest problem with the S-10 is that the cabin lost so much of the room and comfort that the El Camino had.
Your ‘95 was my ‘05. Couldn’t afford the car, just took the CTA. I definitely don’t miss those days (except for being younger and better looking, of course.)
I’ve never owned one of these, but always liked them. It seemed fresh and modern when it arrived. I liked the sheer look of them and the S10. I almost bought a four door some years ago, used, but on the test drive I gave it all of the pedal from a stop and it had some obvious u-joint noise immediately after. I felt kinda bad for having exposed it’s weakness but that was sorta the point. I am generally easy on my cars but I like to know it has it when I need it. Still like them though and will get one when the right one comes along. By then those nice polished aluminum 5-spokes will be all but gone.
I had a 2 door and a 4 door of these. Loved them both.
When I was starting my career I worked with a guy who drove a series of leased Fords. I recall a Club Wagon, an Aerostar and a Taurus, each of them top end loaded vehicles. One day in maybe 1992 or so he drove up in an 87 S-10 Blazer that had been owned by a mechanic at his Ford dealer. He told me that he was ready to try the no-car-payment-life I had been living for awhile. It was a good vehicle for him. But it didn’t last because he was soon in a leased V8 Grand Cherokee.
Although I tended to be more of a Ford guy in those years I thought the Blazer a more durable vehicle than the Bronco II.
Considering how the Bronco II was a bit more prone to rollovers, the small Blazer was a (slightly) safer choice, too.
Always liked these. My dad owned one somewhere around 1990, mild bodylift, dark blue. Pretty capable off-road, and he actually used it for that a lot since he was a hunter and did get to places no normal car could go. Don’t think he ever had any trouble with it, but traded it on a Grand Cherokee because my mom got tired of have to climb in every time because of the lift.
Still have the ‘91 4-door I bought new. Two wheel drive and 5-speed. But 235,000 mile on it in ten years. Stopped driv8ng it in 2002 to do bodywork and paint, took it apart and you know the rest of that story. I think at this point I should have the carcass hauled away as I doubt I will ever put it back together. A kid, a divorce, interests change. Shame I never finished the work way back then. Only vehicle I bought new and I ordered it at that.🤷♂️
Nice rigs. I drove plenty of these at a Chevy dealership in ’88. The 4.3 did a lot to erase the bad taste from the 2.8. We had a lot of fun abusing the $–t out of the S-10 shop trucks. I know a guy who still has his Blazer he bought new. It has the Iron Duke 4 cylinder.
A couple of things I find curious about S-10 Blazers. I never understood why they were deemed crude compared to the competition. They seemed on par with anything else, Really, they were still trucks at this point. I also find it interesting that they are a rare sight nowadays. I see far more Bronco II’s. Toyotas around here are just a given. I just figured since Chevies are so popular, there would still be some around. Especially since Chevy guys love putting 350s in them.
A possible reason for the relative rarity of the S-10/Blazer is that it seems like GM took a page from the Chrysler playbook with these, in that while the mechanicals were stout enough, the body integrity was lacking. IOW, like Chrysler products, the tinworm would eat away S-10/Blazers from around the drivetrain much faster than Fords or Toyotas.
It didn’t help that the interiors of the Chevys screamed “cheap-ass plastic!”.
Cash for Clunkers took an awful lot of these out. Think of how much cheaper little old trucks would be today if a couple hundred thousand of them were still around. I definitely think that C4C took out more domestics than imports, so it’s really hard to judge today which ones were really better in the long run because something else besides wearing out changed the game. It also tended to take out the nicer ones which were in daily use because of registration and insurance requirements. If one was complete and running but not in use, it wasn’t eligible to be traded in. I think that in 2010 that there were a LOT more S-10s still in use than same-age Bronco IIs. I still see boxy Blazers regularly, but I can’t say when I last saw a running Bronco II.
One problem these trucks had is they were susceptible to rust. Even in the 90’s you’d see them running around with an advanced case of the tinworm. By the mid 2000’s or so they were mostly gone. Every once and a while I’ll still see one of the pickups (often quite rusty), but it’s been a while since I’ve seen on of the Blazers running around.
I do know one guy around here with a red ’92 S10. He always stores it in the winter and takes meticulous care of it. The interior shows some wear, but the body still looks perfect.
With that said, the Bronco II was also a pretty bad ruster and it’s pretty rare to see one of those around either.
As mentioned before, Cash For Clunkers took out a lot of them.
The transmissions took out some of them
Rust also took out some of them. The ones that had those plastic fender flares tented to rust really quickly as those trapped water but the non fender flared ones (like my Jimmy) rusted out there.
The rust did not stop there. I had to rebrake line the whole brake system due to rust.
I have seen may 4.3 V6 Blazers go to very high mileage without any drivetrain rebuilding. The RWD version more so than the 4WD version. So 5 years ago I bought a low mileage 2001 RWD Blazer for that reason. It had some issues to sort out when I got it (examples like fuel injection spider,fuel tank pressure sensor, idler arm) but seems to be doing well now. I keep the fluids changed regularly (engine, coolant, brakes, transmission, rear end)
The leather seating and command position keeps the wife happy. We will see if the Blazer can turn 300,000 miles without rebuilding any of the drivetrain except for some universal joints.
2001 Blazer picture
I still have my 1989 bought it in 92 with 22k on it now has 167K
These first-gen 2-doors just looked “right” – rugged but still sophisticated, no gaudy trim, a very good color selection with some good two-tone combinations and a great size. While never owning one, a good friend in college had one and it seemed to be a great little SUV. Had I been in the market for something similar back then I certainly would have considered one.
The 4-door looked a bit weirder, somehow adding the two extra doors made it look not all of one piece. And then the replacement, if anything, seemed to look even smaller and somehow too narrow.
What would the modern lineage equivalent be – as in Bronco II eventually morphed into the Explorer, Cherokee kind of morphed more into the Grand Cherokee and this? The Traverse?
Arguably, either that or the Equinox. If we follow the lineage from compact S-10 Blazer to mid-size TrailBlazer and EXT, the 2-row TrailBlazer was replaced by the mid-size Equinox and the 3-row EXT by the full-size Traverse.
And since the Equinox was recently downsized to compact, Chevy had a hole in their lineup, which they’re filling with a new 2-row mid-size Blazer CUV on the same platform as the 3-row mid-size Acadia. Fanboys everywhere are frothing at the mouth at the “bastardization of the name,” but I don’t see anything wrong with it. It’s not like many S-10 Blazer owners used their truck for much serious off-roading by the end of its run anyway.
That car loan thing is a funny business. Until I was 40+, I had only taken out 2 car loans in my life, and I hated the feeling, as you did, of being in debt. I worked extra to get both of those loans paid off FAST.
But now the world has changed, and if you don’t have debt, you don’t have a credit score and the world revolves around a credit score now. My last 3 car purchases have been for inexpensive cars for which I could have paid cash, but I took out small ($4000) loans for each. They really don’t cost me that much in terms if interest, but I consider that a bargain when compared to NOT having a credit score.
I *still* hate making those monthly payments, though.
In the 1980s we lived in a neighborhood nicknamed “Spermwood” because everyone had kids, us included. The place was infested with these S-10 Blazers and everyone seemed to be happy with them. Most people we knew wound up trading for Suburbans which were becoming incredibly popular in the 1980s and 1990s. Their good experience with the Blazer was undoubtedly a factor in that decision. Also, in that era Suburbans were not absurdly expensive.
That’s hilarious, the nickname of your old neighborhood I mean! Today’s equivalent would probably be “In Vitro Estates” or something. But it is funny how some neighborhoods get/are like that, our last one was very similar. And yes, everyone seems to drive the same thing.
The street I lived on when growing up would have easily qualified as “Spermwood”. Nearly every house was headed by a WWII vet who (I suppose) was making up for lost time. It was the rare household indeed that didn’t have 4/5/6 or more children. The funny thing was that nearly all of the houses were thrown up in the late forties and, as built, only had two bedrooms. Many of the houses, such as the one my parents owned, were expanded to meet the growing demands. People were generally more tolerant of being crammed together back then; not that we had any choice.
This model Blazer (and S10) was thick on the ground back in the day. As others have said, they were prone to rusting and the tin worm has eaten nearly all of them. Unlike full-size trucks there doesn’t seem to be much interest (at least around here) in restoring these; on the rare occasions that I spot one in the wild it is general a well-used survivor.
Back in the early 90’s, I was trying to get out from under the high payment of a full size GMC pick up. I was upside down in it, and in order to unload it at the one particular dealer who would work with me, they gave me a choice between two ‘91 Chevy S-10 pickups. Both the same price. One was an ugly brownish maroon short bed 2wd with the 4.3, 5 speed, factory rally wheels and plain jane interior. It ran and drove great, but like I said, was ugly.
The other choice was a ‘91 S-10 long bed pickup 2wd. Two tone light grey/charcoal grey, the smaller 2.8 V6, 5 speed, rally wheels, nice cloth interior, loaded with everything except locks and windows. This was a really good looking truck, ran a drove well, and although didn’t have the power of the 4.3, wound up being my choice.
I can relate to the comments of them being similar to the El Camino. At 5’11, I loved the fact that I could actually stand flat footed on the ground and reach over the bed side and touch the floor of the bed. Unlike today’s compensators where you need a step ladder or have to stand on the rear tire to reach over into the bed.
That S-10 was was one of the most reliable, trouble free pickups that I’ve owned. Although the cab interior was kind cramped, it did serve me well the entire time I owned it.
I have a friend who bought one of these new back around 1990 or so. He drove it at least five or six years as I recall, and had zero problems, ever. He wasn’t a car guy at all, and while he kept it neat inside, I am not confident that it was ever waxed while he owned it. Knowing that, it’s tough to criticize the look of the paint after a couple years, but…. And the interior quickly began to look old and tired; saggy, baggy, loose, and floppy.
So, Classic old GM truck – it’ll never die on you but it ain’t much to look at.
Love the rough-and tumble styling of the S10-Blazers, sturdy old beasts with some legitimate off-road chops. I get that most buyers then weren’t using them as intended, and that they are better served by modern crossovers, but it is a damn shame that the Blazer name is coming back as the nameplate of some generic cynically engineered crossover blob.
I’m hanging on to an old “real” SUV, my beloved ’96 4Runner. It’s a hard line to walk: using it as intended but taking very good care and keeping it looking good cosmetically.
Define “cynically engineered.”
I coined that term after piloting a new redesigned Acadia recently. It means phoning in one of these blobs which are fantastically under-motored in base trim, have absolutely no stand-out design or dynamic features, mediocre quality, all for an exorbitant price. I can’t imagine a “car guy” being on the engineering teams of something like the new Blazer and truly thinking he was creating a great car. It’s more like “well, this segment is hot, okay, well we have a gap in size in our lineup here, oh, how about we call it a Blazer? Good enough.”
I will specifically call out GM’s insistence on putting the weak-kneed 2.5 NA 4cyl into things like the Acadia, upcoming Blazer, and things like the ATS. What is perfectly servicable in a Malibu (before they replaced it with an even weaker 1.5T), and even doesn’t seem too out of place in a fleet Imapa, has no business motivating a 4000+lb CUV. Ford starts the Edge off with the 2.0T Ecoboost as the base motor, and that feels very much appropriate and at home in that weight of vehicle.
Why single out GM here? The Acadia’s 2.5 is more powerful than the more expensive Highlander’s 2.7 while returning better mileage. And it’s a pretty safe bet that both those engines will be more robust than an Ecoboost.
Nothing wrong with no-frills base model family haulers. If anything, I think manufacturers have lost touch in the other direction. Top options are getting ridiculously powerful…and expensive.
I’m sure the Highlander is likewise horrid with the 2.7. Why buy one though? Pony up for the 3.5L engine and get a car that gets basically the same MPG (possibly better on the highway?) with vastly superior performance. Speaking of MPG, that Acadai’s MPG was thoroughly mediocre, in the mid 20s (26?) after a very favorable drive through 55-60mph farm country. A rental Pacifica with more utility and a lusty 280hp Pentastar V6 got 29 mpg driving 75-80mph on the highway. It’d be one thing of the Acadia were at least very cheap. But looking at AWD SLEs with that terrible powertrain, prices are in the mid $30k range. That’s just plain crazy considering what that money will get you elsewhere. I get that CUVs are the current trend, hence my “cynically engineered” comment: they’re not particularly good vehicles at anything, they’re just meeting the market need for that shape of vehicle with AWD, and not much else.
Points taken, but you’re comparing a 2WD minivan with an AWD CUV. While I prefer the virtues of a minivan over CUVs, if you want AWD you only have one minivan to choose from. It’s more expensive than a 2.5 Acadia and does not carry a spare tire. Chrysler is the only minivan today with a starting MSRP under $30K. So I don’t think the Acadia price is out of line.
I’ve been looking to buy another pickup…now there’s some sticker shock, new and used alike. I don’t care if my truck can do 0-60 in 6 or 7 seconds, but I’ll probably have to pay for it anyway to get fairly basic features. Which is perhaps why I’m coming at this from a different perspective than you.
So every BOF SUV when those were the hot craze 20 years ago was designed by artistes?
Point taken. To me, even something fairly pedestrian and non-specialized like a 1st gen Explorer or the S10 Blazer in this story has credibility as something that really can take you off the beaten path. Okay so as they evolved and softened up that increasingly became NOT the case (GMT360 with its belly-dragging low clearance, final IRS Explorers). I’d still pick one of those old BOF rigs over the “neither fish nor fowl” crossovers, especially at the prices they’re asking.
The fact that the old Blazers could do this:
youtu.be/JdJ1LlQ5vWM
Makes them inherently much more respectable to me.
I had a 1992 4 door GMC S-15 Jimmy 4X4. It was originally my grandparents and they bought it with cash (Depression Generation) when I got it in 2004, the truck had all of 33,094 miles on it. It sat a lot since my grandfather and grandmother only used it for church and trips. They took the bus into “town” (Reading PA)
However I had the oldest paint faded 33,000+ mile truck. Despite it being parked in the yard during the snowfall they would have, and washed off each winter’s end, the thing still had a rust hole that i had to have fixed before it passed inspection.
The thing drove very well for me. It was a bit of a gas pig but as is, I only spent about $200 per month on gas for it (still way cheaper then a car payment)
I ended up taking a job that was about a 100 mile commute and replaced it with a Focus. It had about 70,000+ miles on it at the time. The person I sold it to, put 170,359 miles over 7 years on it before having to junk it due to rust.
I actually found it in my local junk yard in 2016
Rear End
That would really hurt to see my old car in a junkyard like that, but to hear that your Blazer got a ton of miles put on it would be good consolation: someone really squeezed the juices out of it and let the old girl run quite a bit.
Had 3 of these, 87,88 and 96. All 2 door 2wd automatic versions. The 87 and 88 had the 2.8 v6 and the 96 had the 4.3. the 87 and 88 models topped out at a measly 88mph and the 96 hit rev limiter at 99mph. I know that this because at the time I worked 45 minutes from home and I got a call during work from my wife that she was going into labor. I had the pedal to the floor the whole 45 minute ride home, it was the only time I ever felt I had a legitimate reason to speed, run stops and reds confidentially as I would have easily explained to a law enforcement officer my need to get home ASAP. that blazer did 99mph the whole way. I still prefer the 1st gen s10 blazer over a 2nd gen all day. 1st gens feel lighter and more capable, as I did some serious mountain off road driving in my 87 and being so light and small, didn’t get stuck once during a Colorado blizzard, the 96 felt heavier and bulkier, just not as capable as the 1st gens felt. Here in rust free land, there’s still a handful of blazers and s10s running around, usually looking very worn out but still doing their daily duties.