Owner Review: A Love Letter to the 1979 Chevrolet K5 Blazer

We recently put out the word here on TFLTruck for new vehicle owners to send us information about their buying experiences, and while this isn’t a new vehicle, it’s a great story worth sharing.

Everyone has drooled over their dream vehicle on Craigslist, but this TFLTruck reader actually went out and bought his!

ALSO SEE: 2019 Chevy Silverado 1500: Worth the Wait? (Owner Review)

“My name is Parker Kenyon and I’m coming to you from Washington in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I am currently a college student with a fair collection of old square body Chevrolet’s and a couple older Subaru’s (if I lived closer I would respectfully ask if my Subaru could be featured to tackle gold mine hill or razor bend), but alas Colorado is far.

Now being a college student only working part time it’s far from a new truck only new to me, but a couple weeks ago I bought a 1979 Chevrolet K5 blazer with a 350 small block and an original four speed off of craigslist. I got it for $3500, being blinded by always wanting a blazer and a four-speed truck I packed up a buddy and drove three hours to go get it.

It’s far from pretty but the drivetrain has been rebuilt recently, engine, transmission, driveline, and U-joints too, so I couldn’t argue the price. It has a 4-inch suspension lift with fairly new 35×12.5 mud terrains and it rides down the freeway beautifully for a 40 year old truck. Three hours home with no issues, and only half a tank of gas used I was and am happy with my purchase. You never know what you will get when you look on Craigslist but this turned out not to be a bust.

The only major issue is a fair amount of rust and the rear window/tailgate did break a couple weeks after driving it daily, nothing a little gorilla tape didn’t fix until I get a junkyard window assembly. However I get to say I own a four speed blazer and that takes the cake for me. Also a little fun fact since the video where this ad appeared was a crawl test, I did the math and the crawl ratio for my granny gear in low range is 42.75 to 1!

Thanks for listening and keep up the killer videos dudes! Attached is a couple pictures of the blazer with one including the Subaru because I’m insanely proud of the work I have done to that car!

Best, 
Parker Kenyo”

Thanks for the story Parker! We love hearing about great old vehicles like your Blazer ending up in the hands of someone who will take good care of it.