A Blaze Rekindled

HERE’S A LOOK of confusion in your eyes (yeah, it’s that obvious). You have seen this truck before. That much is guaranteed. As you can see, this truck used to be ’bagged and bodied over a Jim Meyer’s Racing chassis tucking 20/22-inch Fesler Built wheels. Ding! Yep, this is Project Blaze, Fesler Built’s amazingly sleek, roadster-inspired Blazer build. It debuted at SEMA (twice) some years ago and has continually set the bar for miraculously clean haulers worldwide. It proved to be a knockout wherever it made an appearance.

Since then, the Fesler Blazer has hit a growth spurt of sorts that has placed it in one of the most polarizing positions in the custom truck community. Purists of low may think it looked better on the ground, while those who can appreciate the rugged, take-no-$#!+ capability that only a 4×4 can offer are totally on board with the big bump in altitude. Others (like yourself) may still be slightly flabbergasted, so hold on and follow along as Chris Fesler, head honcho at Fesler Built, walks us through the Blazer’s metamorphosis.

Back when the Fesler Built crew first discovered the ’72 Blazer, it had originally been factory equipped with a 4×4 suspension. Obviously, the guys weren’t interested in building a lifted truck back then. Nope, it was straight to the asphalt with it—there was no hesitation or half-stepping about it. The OE chassis was plucked clean out from underneath it, and the whirlwind of customization soon began. The cab was treated to an almost endless amount of changes and upgrades (truly from bumper to bumper) before being placed on top of a fresh new frame complete with RideTech’s full Shockwave air ride system and an Accuair ride control setup. It was cut up and reassembled for the bright lights of Las Vegas, but its first appearance at SEMA showcased only the bodywork and fabrication as it was rolled into the Kicker booth in primer. It was far from finished but further along than a lot of trucks at the show, or in anyone’s garage for that matter. “After the amount of positive attention we received with the truck at that first SEMA, we were eager to get it back home and painted,” Chris said. “From the first turn of the wrench to taking it to SEMA that first time, we had a total of two months worth of labor into it.”

Instead of starting from scratch on another build, we decided to transform the truck into what you see today.

This truck was (and still is) Chris’ personal ride. He chose to debut it in its first phase in front of such a large audience to show the world the amount and quality of fabrication the Fesler shop is capable of. With the Blazer belonging to the owner of the shop, there was only a limited amount of time the crew could dedicate to it. Customer jobs come first, so the truck was put on hold and shown in that condition for a solid eight months. “We took it to CES, Goodguys, Barrett-Jackson,” Chris goes on to say, “and a lot of local shows and events within a few hours driving distance. We didn’t start on it again until September rolled around, two months before the next SEMA.”

The Blazer was pulled completely apart for the finish work. It only took the Fesler crew, along with Gary Sharp leading the way, seven whole days to complete the remaining bodywork and finish the entire paint job. Progress was resumed just as if not more than a week had passed. The guys were just that motivated and dialed in on the Blazer, and the reception of the completed project far surpassed the attention it had received just 12 months earlier. It was the perfect ending to what had been a passion-fueled, yet stop-and-start build from the very beginning.

With the attention from the second debut starting to die off a bit, Chris and crew began sinking back into the groove of the daily routine. New business came through the door like it had before, and fresh projects were being inked on the calendar for the next year and beyond. The Blazer didn’t get parked in the back of the garage only to be covered and forgotten. Chris actually began spending more time with it for more practical uses. “The Blazer became our shop truck, and we drove it hard. We took it to race on road courses and put some real miles on the odometer. We definitely didn’t treat it like the average magazine cover truck after the coverage came and went. The Blazer was the vehicle I drove new clients around in when showing them the new technology and suspension work we were looking to incorporate into future builds. Nine times out of 10, they were blown away with the truck’s handling and reliability, and were sold on the idea of allowing us to install air ride systems on their personal projects.” The Blazer served the purpose Chris had intended it to, but he wanted to push the truck just a bit further. He just didn’t know specifically where he wanted to take it next.

The Blazer’s race-inspired suspension setup proved to be a blast and had become an effective sales tool for Fesler Built, but the time had come to do something different— something that hadn’t quite been done before. “Instead of starting from scratch on another build, we decided to transform the truck into what you see today,” Chris said. “Don’t ask me why we did what we did. Other than wanting to stand apart from anything else out there, our reasoning to turn the Blazer into a 4×4 didn’t run much deeper.” So the guys pulled the frame out from under the truck and started fabricating a lifted chassis with Deaver leaf springs and Fabtech Motorsports reservoir shocks for a completely new ride and look. The update wasn’t done for the sake of knocking the socks off an audience at some big show though. Chris just wanted to take his truck to the next level, which just happened to be a complete 180-degree flip into another dimension. The Moto Metal MO970 wheels, beefy Nitto Mud Grappler tires and the dramatically substantial gain in height has turned the once pavement- shaving menace into a utilitarian marvel.

The slick body lines and smoothed out façade are offset by the aggressively rugged suspension and rolling gear, which would seem to detract from one another on paper, but happens to work surprisingly well in the flesh. Others out there may have something to say about it, but that’s what keeps this whole thing interesting. Creativity should never be limited just to fall in line with what the “cool” kids think is good. Chris and his crew built this Blazer to showcase the caliber of their work and continue to show their range of expertise by taking an already amazing build to a new level of craftsmanship. Love it or hate it, the custom truck community is going to have to deal with it either way.

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BUILD SPECS

OWNER

CHRIS FESLER
Fesler Built
1972 Chevy Blazer
Scottsdale, AZ

ENGINE

• 2006 GM LS-2
• 450 hp
• 455 lbs-ft torque
• GM Performance camshaft
• Vintage Air FrontRunner spring tensioner system
• Performance Rod & Kustom radiator and cooling fans
• Custom Fesler Built motor mounts
• FAST air intake manifold
• Fesler Built custom intake tubes with Airaid filter
• Sanderson headers
• Fesler Built valve covers
• Ron Francis wiring
• Fesler Built custom hoses, wheel tubs, radiator cover
• Rick’s stainless steel gas tank
• Smoothed firewall
• Fesler Built custom 3-inch exhaust system
• Flowmaster Super 40 mufflers
• 2006 GM 4L65E transmission
• Master Shift paddle shifters
• Chevy 12-bolt rearend with 4.11:1 gears
• Dana 44 front end

SUSPENSION & CHASSIS

• Fesler Built custom 4×4 chassis
• Fabtech Motorsports front and rear shocks reservoir shocks
• Deaver Suspension leaf springs arched for additional lift
• Camaro disc brakes all around
• Hydratech brake booster
• SSBC master cylinder

WHEELS & TIRES

• Moto Metal MO970 20×9 black/machined finish
• Nitto Mud Grappler 37×12.50R20 tires

BODY & PAINT

• Shop: Fesler Built
• Sikkens Aston Martin Green, painted by Gary Sharp
• Body chopped, sectioned and smoothed
• Windshield chopped 4 inches with 9-degree rake
• Doors heavily modified to fit windshield and bed sides
• Goodmark cowl hood
• Brushed nickel grille
• Fesler Built custom grille inserts
• Modified front bumper for better fitment
• Sir Michael’s roll pan
• Tyger General Stars running boards
• Fesler Built custom bed floor
• Fully shaved body
• Fesler Built taillights and 7-inch headlights

INTERIOR

• Shop: Fesler Built (John Meyers, Chris Fesler and Brian York)
• Custom seats by Tea’s Designs
• Leather upholstery
• Mercedes carpet
• Fesler Built custom dashboard, center console, door panels and rear section
• Dakota Digital one-off gauges
• Vintage Air A/C
• Flaming River steering column with Fesler wheel
• Pioneer AVIC-Z2 head unit
• Kicker wiring
• Two Kicker 6.5-inch components
• Kicker 12-inch subwoofers
• One Kicker ZX850.4, two ZX2500.1 amps
• Odyssey battery
• Dynamat sound deadening

SPECIAL THANKS FROM OWNER: “Thank you to everyone at the shop for working the crazy hours it took to get the truck finished.”

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