A little over five years ago, I got my dad's old 1988 S10. I spent a few years working on restoring it, but in the summer of 2014, a lady ran a stop sign and slammed right into the side of the truck. I kept the truck and planned to replace the box (the only part of the truck damaged in the accident,) but the combination of the steering shaft snapping and an impossible-to-find electrical drain were the reasons I got rid of it about a year and a half ago.

Late this past summer, I started looking for another 1st gen S10, Sonoma, Blazer, Jimmy, or Bravada. My main criteria were that it have a G80 rear axle, air conditioning, and not have any rust that required welding to repair. With a budget of $1500, it was obviously taking a while to find something. I considered a few 2nd gens, since 1st gens are getting to be few and far between.

After searching for two months, I finally found this 1994 Bravada. The previous owner bought it in 2000 with around 10,000 miles on it, and sold it to me 17 years later with 184,000. He had the transmission rebuilt two years ago. Last year, he had the brakes, distributor, fuel injector, and radiator all replaced. The only thing that hadn't been touched in the last 23 years were the shocks and steering components. As you can imagine, I have about 20 degrees of steering wheel play and it was bouncy as hell. The first thing I did was replace the shocks and idler arm. Both the rear shocks and idler arm were very reluctant to come off, turning projects that should have taken a few hours into ones that took days.

This pic was taken the day after I brought it home:


Interior:



Today, I spent a few hours with the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound and Turtle Wax Ice wax, and got the paint to shine for the first time in probably at least ten years. I'm pretty happy with the result. When I first got it, it looked like it would never shine again.

 

Very nice ride... I wish the second gens can with the dialog spedometer... can we the differece in the shine from the day after you brought it home and when you did the wax

 

Thanks! Here are the before/after images:

 

I installed a $50 radio this week, but forgot to order an antenna adapter. I searched for two hours last night, and there is not a single place in east Denver where you can get an antenna adapter, so it’s looking like I’m going to have to order one. I’m not sure I’m going to keep it though. Aftermarket radios are so ugly. I’d rather just go to the junkyard and get a factory cassette player, and use a cassette adapter for my auxiliary input.

 

Cancel that last post. I returned the SoundStream radio, and went to the junkyard this morning to get a factory radio. I'm going to try a Bluetooth cassette adapter soon and see how well that works.

 

Alot cleaner and age specific. Nice look... curious on the cassette Bluetooth adapter.

 

Nice ride.

Interesting to see the differences in the interior from the CHEV to the Bravada, as I have a 1994 CHEV

 

The main differences in the interior are the seats, center console, and the leather on the door panels. I was hoping to find a Blazer or Jimmy, which I prefer the look of, both inside and outside. However, I do like the Bravada's AWD system. The one I bought has a rebuilt transmission, and I was able to get it for $1100, and I couldn't find a Blazer or Jimmy in drivable condition for that price around here.

I'm hoping to eventually replace the carpet with black carpet, and dye all of the interior plastic and vinyl pieces black, but leave all of the leather tan to create a two-tone interior, similar to the interior that was in the 2016 Mazda CX-5 that I had. I also prefer the four-spoke steering wheel from the late 80's and early 90's Pontiacs, and I'd like to install one of those, but cover up the engraved "Pontiac" with an Oldsmobile badge.

I also still have most of that bright blue vinyl in my garage that I had bought to wrap my dad's '88 S10. I'm planning on eventually wrapping the Bravada in that. Maybe this summer, I'll get around to that.

 

Nice,

Yeah, I have once driven a Bravada and did not like the steering wheel. It feels awkward to me on the highway. The spokes are just always at the wrong position.

 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

I got tired of looking at my missing grille emblem, and really don't want to spend $50 for a used one on eBay, so I made one out of silver and black carbon fiber vinyl. here are the before and after images: