1972 Chevy Blazer - Blaz-Air

My wife and I both come from "car families." After customizing my '90 Chevy Truck back in the mid-'90s, my wife decided she wanted a truck of her own. Seeing the "opportunity" I was given, I talked her into a '72 two-wheel drive Blazer. After looking for a couple months, we found one about two hours away. It was in primer with 15-inch billet wheels, a new engine, no grille and no interior. I bought a few pieces, dropped it and we drove and showed it that way for about five years while we built a new house and started a family.

About the time I started thinking about tearing it down, my dad decided he wanted to build a '46 Ford. Then I was transferred a couple of years later, so the Blazer was put on the back burner again. Finally, in September 2002, I started what was going to be a simple resto rod with the goal of making it to the 2003 Hot Rod Power Tour. In April, I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to finish, so I borrowed a set of 20-inch wheels from my buddy, Eric Roj, to update my '90, and we hit the road for the Power Tour behind my mom and dad in the '46.

With a lot more time and the 2004 Power Tour a year away, what was once a simple resto rod turned into a full-on custom job. When February rolled around, I realized I was in trouble, so I traded a wrecked '87 shortbed to Roj for some help on the bodywork so we could make the tour. After thrashing with the help of my wife, dad, and daughter on weekends and nights, we had everything finished except for the exhaust, the Thursday before the tour. After fabricating some short pipes, we headed off to Tulsa to meet the tour and get some exhaust installed.

This is where it gets ugly. After an hour on the road I noticed a problem with the tranny. When I pulled over, I noticed fluid pouring out of the tranny drain plug. Once we filled up the tranny and headed off to Tulsa, my four-speed automatic turned into a two-speed. After a few calls to my uncle in Tulsa, we had an appointment for exhaust and a new tranny. We were going to make the tour no matter what. But after a lot more problems and rain (without a top) we put the Blazer on a trailer and headed back home.

We spent the rest of the summer working out all the bugs and finally finished in time for the Good Guys show in Fort Worth. Since I spent too much time detailing, we missed the judging on Saturday, but still had a good time. On Sunday morning, I noticed a couple of guys looking at the Blazer and taking pictures, one of which was Gary Meadors, the founder of Good Guys Rod and Custom Association. After spending some time talking about our Blazer, Gary awarded us the Good Guys Pick for the weekend. The other guy was Jeremy Cook from CLASSIC TRUCKS, who asked if he could shoot our Blazer for a feature. Once I wiped the ear-to-ear grin off my face, I agreed and our weekend was complete.