# Chevrolet K5 Blazer (Square body, second generation)
Source: https://fullysorted.com/research/models/chevrolet/k5-blazer-square-body
Publisher: Fully Sorted (fullysorted.com), collector car research
Last updated: 2026-10-21

## Key facts
- Make: Chevrolet
- Model: K5 Blazer
- Generation: Square body, second generation
- Years: 1973 to 1991
- Body styles: 2-door full-size sport utility with fully removable top (1973-1975), 2-door half-cab sport utility: steel cab roof over the front seats, removable fiberglass-reinforced plastic rear roof (1976-1991), Two-wheel-drive Blazer, sold alongside the 4x4 through 1982 per one source, M1009 CUCV military utility, 6.2-liter diesel (1983-1987)
- Engines: 250 cu in inline-six, standard through 1982; 100 hp net at 3,600 rpm for 1973, 130 hp for 1979 per a club-compiled table; 292 cu in inline-six, 120 hp net at 3,600 rpm (1973-1974); 307 cu in V8, 115 hp net at 3,600 rpm (1973); 305 cu in V8: 130 hp net from 1976 per a club-compiled table, or introduced for 1981 at up to 170 hp and 260 lb-ft per Drivingline (disputed); 350 cu in V8, offered throughout; 155 hp net for 1973, up to 210 hp and 300 lb-ft with throttle-body injection, standard from 1987; 400 cu in V8 (LF4), 175 hp net for 1975-1978 and 185 hp for 1979 per a club-compiled table; 6.2-liter Detroit Diesel V8, naturally aspirated, 135 hp and 240 lb-ft, 1982-1991, four-wheel drive only
- Production notes: No source consulted publishes a production total for the 1973-1991 Blazer, so none is printed here. What exists are year-by-year tabulations that agree with each other wherever they overlap: 44,841 for 1973, 56,798 for 1974, 50,548 for 1975, 74,389 for 1976, 86,838 for 1977, 88,858 for 1978 and a peak of 90,987 for 1979, then 31,776 for 1980, 23,635 for 1981, 24,514 for 1982, 26,245 for 1983, 39,329 for 1984, 40,011 for 1985, 37,310 for 1986, 32,437 for 1987, 28,446 for 1988, 26,663 for 1989, 18,921 for 1990 and 7,332 for 1991. Wikipedia's table starts at 1977; Conceptcarz gives 1973-1977, 1980 and 1984-1991 in prose; a ck5.com club specification table gives 1973-1979. None of the three names its primary source, none says whether two-wheel-drive Blazers are included, and they may well descend from one another, so their agreement is weaker than it looks. Added up, the nineteen rows come to 829,878, but that is arithmetic on secondary tables, not a published figure, and it is not used as one. The 1980 row is the oddity: a fall from 90,987 to 31,776, about 65 percent in one year, which every table records and none explains. No source breaks out convertible-top 1973-1975 trucks, two-wheel drive against four-wheel drive, diesel trucks or trim levels. The only base prices found are in the same club table, $3,200 for 1973 rising to $7,373 for 1979; no GM price sheet, period road test or other independent record of a US list price was retrieved, so those figures stand as single-source and unverified.

## Summary
The second-generation Chevrolet K5 Blazer covers the 1973 through 1991 US model years, nineteen seasons on a 106.5 in wheelbase version of the square-body C/K truck chassis. It was built to beat the Ford Bronco, and over its run it was really three different trucks. The 1973-1975 Blazers kept a fully removable top, so the whole cab could ride open. From 1976 the truck carried the pickup's steel cab roof with a removable fiberglass rear section, the half-cab layout that lasted to the end. A 1981 restyle brought stacked quad headlamps and the chain-drive NP208 transfer case, and 1982 added the 6.2-liter Detroit Diesel V8. For 1987 the truck became the V-series, gained throttle-body injection with the 350 as standard, and outlived the square-body pickups until 1991. Year-by-year tabulations peak at 90,987 trucks for 1979 and fall to 7,332 for 1991, but no source consulted publishes a generation total. Today the market splits sharply between original trucks and custom builds, and the custom builds bring the biggest numbers.

## Specifications
- roof: Fully removable top 1973-1975; steel cab roof with removable fiberglass-reinforced plastic rear section 1976-1991
- power: 100 hp net (1973 250 six) to 210 hp (late throttle-body 350); manufacturer net ratings as compiled by sources, not tested
- brakes: Rear-wheel anti-lock brakes standard from 1990
- engine: 250 cu in inline-six standard through 1982; 292 six; 305, 307, 350 and 400 cu in V8s; 6.2-liter diesel V8 from 1982; throttle-body injected 350 standard from 1987
- layout: Front engine; four-wheel drive, with two-wheel-drive versions built through 1982 per one source
- length: 184.5 in (4,686 mm) for 1973-1977; 184.8 in (4,694 mm) for 1978-1979, per the same table
- torque: Up to 300 lb-ft (late 350), 260 lb-ft (305) and 240 lb-ft (6.2 diesel) per Drivingline; torque for the 1970s engines not documented in the sources consulted
- weight: 3,912 lb (1973) to 4,371 lb (1979) per a club-compiled table; later years not documented in the sources consulted
- chassis: Ladder frame; short-wheelbase version of the 1973 square-body C/K truck chassis
- wheelbase: 106.5 in (2,705 mm), per a club-compiled specification table
- designation: C/K series 1973-1986; R/V series 1987-1991; K5 is the model name, not a chassis series
- acceleration: No 0-60 mph figure found in any source consulted
- fuel_economy: One owner reports 7 to 8 mpg from a 1988 truck; no EPA figure was retrieved
- transmission: 3-speed and SM465 4-speed manuals; TH350 automatic, TH400 listed for 1976-1979; the 700R4 was renamed 4L60 for 1991
- transfer_case: Gear-driven part-time NP205; full-time NP203 on early automatic trucks (disputed); chain-drive NP208 from 1981; NP241 after 1988

## Notable variants
- 1973-1975 full-convertible trucks: The last three years in which the whole top came off, cab included. From 1976 the front roof was steel, so these are the only square-body Blazers that open all the way.
- Cheyenne: The upper trim of the 1970s trucks. Original Cheyennes on classic.com sold for $26,500 in November 2025 and $15,007 in October 2026, a reminder that originality alone does not set the price.
- Silverado (1980s): The trim most often chosen as the base for restomod builds. A custom 1985 Silverado sold for $73,700 at Mecum in September 2026, against $28,050 for an original 1985 truck at Mecum in July 2026.
- Two-wheel-drive Blazer: Built through 1982 per one source. Owners note it was still called a K5, because K5 was the model name rather than the four-wheel-drive series letter, and 2WD 1973 trucks appear in the same classic.com market.
- 6.2-liter diesel (1982-1991): The naturally aspirated Detroit Diesel V8, rated 135 hp and 240 lb-ft, four-wheel drive only. The same engine powered the M1009 military version.
- M1009 CUCV (1983-1987): A militarized Blazer with the 6.2 diesel, developed from a 1981 test bed. A separate collecting niche with its own paperwork trail.
- 1987-1991 V-series: Throttle-body injection and the 350 as standard engine. The fender still said K5 in 1988; owners report the badge was gone for 1989-1991.

## History

### Built to Beat the Bronco

Chevrolet's full-size Blazer was conceived to fight the Ford Bronco, and its answer was to shorten a pickup rather than design a small dedicated 4x4. GMC sold the same truck as the Jimmy. When GM redesigned its full-size truck line for 1973, the Blazer moved with it onto a new chassis with fresh, squared-off styling. The second generation would run nineteen model years, and the question it kept answering was how much pickup a sport utility could share and still feel like a weekend toy.

### The Full Convertible Years, 1973-1975

The 1973-1975 trucks kept a fully removable top, cab roof included, and 1975 was the last year a Blazer could be opened all the way. The standard engine was the 250 cu in six at 100 hp net, with a 292 six, a 307 V8 at 115 hp and a 350 at 155 hp on the 1973 option list, and a 400 V8 by 1975. How power reached the ground in these first years is where the sources part company. Wikipedia says every 1973-1980 Blazer used the gear-driven, part-time NP205 transfer case. A ck5.com club table says the 1973 trucks had a full-time system, listing the NP203 with automatics, and an insurance-industry history says full-time four-wheel drive came with the automatic V8 for 1973. The NP205 statement cannot be true of every truck if the full-time cars existed.

### The Half-Cab, 1976-1980

For 1976 GM carried over the pickup's steel cab roof and made only the rear section removable, a fiberglass-reinforced plastic shell that bolted down with 16 bolts. None of the sources consulted gives GM's reason for the change. The half-cab sold: tabulated output rose from 74,389 for 1976 to 90,987 for 1979, the peak of the generation, with the TH400 automatic and a 400 V8 at up to 185 hp on the list. Then 1980 shows 31,776 trucks, a drop of roughly 65 percent in one year that every table records and none explains. Two-wheel-drive Blazers were built alongside the 4x4s through 1982 per one source, and owners point out that they were K5s too: K5 was the model name, not a drive-system code.

### Restyle, Diesel and the Army, 1981-1986

The 1981 refresh brought stacked quad headlamps and the chain-drive NP208 transfer case. The 305 V8 appears in the 1981 trucks with a 9.2:1 compression ratio that owners describe as prone to detonation; whether it was first offered in 1976 or 1981 is disputed. The 250 six remained standard through 1982, the year the 6.2-liter Detroit Diesel V8 arrived at 135 hp and 240 lb-ft. After a 1981 test bed, the Army took the Blazer as the M1009 CUCV, built from 1983 to 1987 with the 6.2 diesel.

### V-Series and the Last Square Body, 1987-1991

For 1987 GM renamed the truck from C/K to R/V and introduced throttle-body injection, making the 350 standard at up to 210 hp and 300 lb-ft. The new GMT400 pickups took the C/K name, but the Blazer, Suburban and crew cabs stayed on the old platform. Small changes marked the final years: an NP241 transfer case after 1988, a fixed mast antenna for 1988, a full-bar grille for 1989, standard rear-wheel anti-lock brakes for 1990, and the 700R4 automatic renamed 4L60 for 1991. Owners note the fender badge still read K5 in 1988 and was gone after. Output fell to 7,332 for 1991 before the Blazer moved to the GMT400 platform, and the full-size two-door Blazer name was later replaced by the Tahoe.

## What to look for

The first question is which of the three trucks it is. A 1973-1975 Blazer has the fully removable top; a 1976-1991 truck has the steel cab roof and a removable rear section held by 16 bolts, and a missing or cracked rear top is a separate expense. On early automatic trucks the transfer case is worth identifying, since the sources disagree on whether they left the factory with the full-time NP203 or the part-time NP205, and swaps over fifty years are common. Classic.com sorts results into original, modified and custom, and those categories carry different money: the same year can sell at $15,000 or at $130,000 depending on which one it is, so the condition and originality claims in a listing matter more than the model year. The badge is not a drive-system tell, because two-wheel-drive Blazers were also K5s; the running gear and paperwork are. For the 6.2 diesel trucks of 1982-1991 and the M1009 military trucks, the record of what has been done to the engine is most of the value. Underneath, owners who have restored these trucks describe frame-down work, with running gear and suspension parts needing replacement on trucks that sat outside, especially near the coast. A truck that has been parked for years tends to come back with vacuum-line leaks, idle problems and failed seals, and in states with emissions testing an idle that is too high can fail a smog check. The power tailgate window motor and the manual crank gears are both known wear items.

## Common problems

The most specific known fault is the tailgate window: the electric motor on the K5 overheats and fails repeatedly, and the manual crank gears can wear prematurely. The 1981-on 305 V8, built with a 9.2:1 compression ratio and smaller combustion chambers, is described by owners as prone to detonation. Trucks that have sat suffer a cluster of age problems that one owner of a 1988 truck describes in detail: vacuum lines and connections failing, leaking front transmission seals, spongy brakes, a whining rear axle above 35 mph, a slipping transmission and a worn-out engine with a dead cylinder. The same owner reports underside rust from a coastal climate bad enough to require replacing almost the entire running gear, a ride he calls terrible, an original air conditioning system he calls poor, and fuel economy of 7 to 8 mpg. The forum and owner sources consulted do not publish failure rates, so these are reports of what goes wrong, not of how often. No NHTSA recall or complaint data was retrieved for this generation, which is a gap rather than evidence that none exists.

## Market notes

As of October 2026, classic.com showed 53 second-generation K5 Blazers for sale, but its market page displayed no average or benchmark figure, so none is quoted here. Individual results logged on classic.com through September 2026 show how wide the spread is. For 1985 trucks, a custom Silverado sold for $73,700 and a modified Silverado for $53,900 at Mecum in September 2026, while an original 1985 truck made $28,050 at Mecum in July 2026 and a project Silverado $11,350 on Hagerty's platform in August 2026. For 1973 trucks, a custom 2WD Blazer sold for $130,000 on Bring a Trailer in September 2026 and a custom K5 for $105,600 at Barrett-Jackson in January 2026, while original Cheyennes sold for $26,500 in November 2025 and $15,007 in October 2026. For 1980, original trucks brought $45,100 at Mecum and $39,600 at Barrett-Jackson in the first half of 2026 and $22,000 on Bring a Trailer in July 2026. Classic.com does not say on these pages whether each figure includes buyer's premium. The pattern, as of September 2026, is that the top of the market belongs to custom and modified builds, and an original truck in ordinary condition still trades in the $15,000 to $45,000 band. An undated Hagerty article describes the second-generation trucks as more affordable than the first, citing a 1987 truck at $28,600 and two others at $19,800.

## Value trajectory

The square-body Blazer has long sat in the shadow of the first-generation trucks. In June 2017 GM Authority, reporting Hagerty's appreciation ratings, gave the 1969-1972 K5 Blazer a score of 94 of 100 and the 1973-1991 Suburban a 91, with no figure for the 1973-1991 Blazer, and an undated Hagerty article describes the second generation as the more affordable choice. That gap has narrowed at the top. As of September 2026, classic.com records custom builds of 1973 and 1985 trucks at $73,700 to $130,000, and original trucks at roughly $15,000 to $45,000. An owner account in InsideHook put 1988 trucks at $10,000 to $35,000 in 2021, which the 2026 original-truck results sit at or above. The supply of unmodified trucks is the constraint: owners describe many as rusted away, crushed or modified past return. As of October 2026 classic.com published no average or benchmark for the generation, so the direction of the middle of the market is not measured here.

## Sources

- [Chevrolet K5 Blazer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_K5_Blazer) (Wikipedia)
- [Chevrolet K5 Blazer - 2nd Gen Market](https://www.classic.com/m/chevrolet/k5-blazer/2nd-gen) (classic.com)
- [1985 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Market](https://www.classic.com/m/chevrolet/k5-blazer/year-1985/) (classic.com)
- [1973 Chevrolet K5 Blazer - 2nd Gen Market](https://www.classic.com/m/chevrolet/k5-blazer/2nd-gen/year-1973/) (classic.com)
- [1980 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Market](https://www.classic.com/m/chevrolet/k5-blazer/year-1980/) (classic.com)
- [The K5 Chevy Blazer is the new hot classic SUV](https://hagerty.com/media/buying-and-selling/chevy-k5-blazer-is-new-hot-suv) (Hagerty)
- [Original Chevrolet Blazer Values Are Skyrocketing](https://gmauthority.com/blog/2017/06/original-chevrolet-blazer-values-are-skyrocketing/) (GM Authority)
- [The 1973-1991 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Was GM's Last Old School 4X4 SUV](https://www.drivingline.com:443/articles/the-1973-1991-chevrolet-k5-blazer-was-gms-last-old-school-4x4-suv/) (Drivingline)
- [K5 Blazer: History of a classic Chevrolet full-size SUV](https://ck5.com/chevrolet-k5-blazer) (ck5.com)
- [K5 Blazer Specifications 1969-1979](https://ck5.com/forums/resources/k5-blazer-specifications-1969-1979.9/updates) (ck5.com)
- [Chevrolet Blazer](https://www.conceptcarz.com/z25882/Chevrolet-Blazer.aspx) (Conceptcarz)
- [The Classic 1973 Chevy Blazer: A History](https://getjerry.com/insights/classic-1973-chevy-blazer) (Jerry)
- [Pick of the Day: 1976 Chevrolet K5 Blazer 4x4](https://journal.classiccars.com/?p=293578) (ClassicCars.com Journal)
- [What I Wish I Knew Before I Bought a Chevy K5 Blazer](https://www.insidehook.com/article/vehicles/wish-knew-chevy-k5-blazer) (InsideHook)
- [Question, are all full size square body Blazers referred to as K5 ?](https://www.gmsquarebody.com/goto/post?id=675284) (GMSquareBody.com forum)

Cite as: Fully Sorted, "Chevrolet K5 Blazer (Square body, second generation)", https://fullysorted.com/research/models/chevrolet/k5-blazer-square-body, updated 2026-10-21.