Silhouette and Blazer (56K maybe...People still use 56K?)

[RetroC10Sport]

It's the Cadillac of minivans!

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Homelink added

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Like driving a spaceship...With more blind spots than a house.

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It's usually cleaner...But these are some old pics.

And the Blazer. It was $400, no rust, working A/C,

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With a couple of her girlfriends, my friend's 1991.5 Syclone and 1992 Typhoon.

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[Irishman999]

My moms old Windstar was the Cadillac of minivans.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

My moms old Windstar was the Cadillac of minivans.

You haven't seen "Get Shorty" have you?

 

[HotRodPC]

My Mom had one of those GM mini vans with enough room on the dashboard to layout a king size mattress and go to sleep. Exaggeration of course, but damn, seemed as long as it did wide. Hers was a Pontiac Transport. Never had any problems with it, just had it several years and long enough to want something new again.

 

[bucket]

Your Blazer has the cool red-striped seats that seem to be much lees common than the gray-striped. Have any idea what determined if they were red or gray? You also have my favorite style grill.

Do the front tires ever rub when you turn?

 

[Jaymez]

I thought the red striped seats were more popular?

I can't believe an APV still rolls down the streets. Man.

 

[bucket]

They are great vans, they all would last forever if the owners all took better care of them.

 

[HotRodPC]

I notice in Reto's Avatar, it looks like his Olds Silly has been cut and converted. I'd be interested in seeing some better pics of that. Unless it was a photoshop wish pic.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

Andy - Only the Sports and GMC SLS' received the red striped seats. I have a nice set of Syclone seats for it but not sure if they're going in yet or not.

I had to do a little trimming on the fender flares and the front air dam, other wise they don't rub at all and give it a great stance.

Other than some minor electrical issues and it has a thing for killing fuel pumps every two years, the Silhouette has been completely reliable. One reason I can't bring myself to get rid of it is because it has "followed" me around the US.

It was bought new in Ohio
I grew up in Ohio

It was wrecked once in Englewood, Ohio
I lived in Englewood for three years

It was fixed at Joseph Olds in Trotwood, Ohio
My brother worked at Joseph Olds for about 5 years

It went to Southern California in 2000
I moved to southern California in 2000

It returned to Ohio in 2002
I returned to Ohio in 2002

In 2003 it came to Texas
In 2003 I came to Texas

I traded a 2000 Mazda pick up for it in 2006. It's relatively quick with a n/a 3800 and gets about 32 MPGs when i keep my foot out of it. Not too long ago, I kicked a Nissan 350z's ass in a stoplight grand prix. Plus, not only did he lose to a minivan, he got pulled over as well. The 1995 Silhouette is like No. 8 on the list of vehicles least likely to get pulled over. It only weighs about 3500 lbs. because most of the body is plastic like a Fiero. When a supercharged 3800 is installed, these vans really cook!

MrGM - in my avatar is a Lumina APV I found in Argentina. It's a funeral flower car and they also had a matching APV hearse. I work at a funeral home so I found it really cool!

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And the back of the hearse.

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I must say, there are some WEIRD abominations of squarebodies down there. Hardtop Blazers, shortened Suburbans (Tahoe style), 2 door Suburban panel trucks, 4 cylinder diesel powered squarebodies. And more shortbeds than you could hope to find up here.

As well as some sort of thing that looks like a Ford Ranger had sex with a squarebody and got it pregnant. The Blazer version of these look like the square had sex with a Nissan Pathfinder; the earlier versions look like the square procreated with a Dodge Ramcharger...Very weird looking.

 

[Old77]

I like the square blazers! My first truck was a 93 s-10 so I have a soft spot for the 82-93(94 for blazers) s-10's!

 

[RetroC10Sport]

They are great vans, they all would last forever if the owners all took better care of them.

the main reason they die early is because the tremendous amount of heat under the hood kills the transmission.

Before I added a trans cooler, the trans temp was 200-220F, after it went down to 168F.

this is my second blazer and my 4th S10. I started driving in a 1989 S15 that eventually went 450,000 miles and still going. 2.5/5 speed and it still has the original clutch, i am NOT joking. The engine has never been touched except for routine maintenance, the trans was replaced once due to my brother's inability to check the fluid. But we never touched the clutch.

My second was a 1987 4x4 blazer that couldn't get out of it's own way. Drove it to college. 2.8 auto.

Third was my first "new" truck. A 1996 Sonoma GT I bought hit in the side and fixed. 1250 miles on it and I paid $2500. It has a 4.3 HO, 5 speed and it's the only one according to compnine that had that engine and trans with a 4.10 posi. It would absolutely smolder the tires all the way into 4th. It has a Sportside bed and the ZQ8 suspension. It has a pretty low VIN so i am confident it was one of the first Sportside made. When I drove it home, my mom took it for a spin and went to the GMC dealer the next day and bought one of her own. They had to bring it in from Utah! When it got killed by a deer, I gave her mine.

I was looking down here for a 2 door 4x4 Blazer. Drove a few, including a 1986 4x4 with a 2.5/auto. You had to measure 0-60 with a CALENDAR. i found this one, he wanted $750, I pulled 4 $100s out and he even drove it home for me running on 2 cylinders. Long 10 miles. hahahah Took me awhile to figure out the problem, until I asked myself why i had no compression on 3 cylinders with the valve cover on and 150 PSI with the cover off. All the braces were mangled. A $5 valve cover later, a free rocker and pushrod and an ignition module had it running like a banshee.

Surprisingly, it also passed emissions even after running super rich before I fixed it. It had numbers good enough for a 2006 model!

Now I want a SWB squarebody!

 

[Old77]

I hear ya on the 2.8! My 93 had the 2.8 and it was a total dog of a motor! My dad owned an 85 s-15 with the 2.5 w/ a 5-speed and it lasted 250,000 miles when my brother wrecked it. It was pretty much exactly how you described your 89 where he didn't have to touch anything on that truck other than routine maintenance stuff. That was a good truck and I think the 2.5 had better power than the 2.8. That's the only thing that I didn't like about my 93.

 

[greencountry05]

I've got an '03 ext cab with a 4.3 and it's starting to act like it has some gremlins. Heater doesn't work either lol....

 

[HotRodPC]

I paticularly do not like any of the GM 60 degree V6 motors. The 2.8, 3.1 and 3.4. I don't have many issues about the 90 degree V6;s though, the 3.8 or the 4.3. And the newer 3.5 and 3.9, I honestly do not know much about at all, other than they are not supposed to have upper intake manifold gasket problems like the 3.1 and 3.4 had.

 

[RetroC10Sport]

You want a problem 60 degree...How about a 3.4 DOHC...Lord, I hate that engine.

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This is what I sold to get my Blazer...

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I only got $1000 for it...And I let it go with about $4000 in extra parts. A new top. I was restoring it but lost interest after some yard apes slashed the top and keyed it repeatedly out of jealousy.

I do miss it on these beautiful days. I also miss one option it had. A Heads Up Display.

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Oldsmobile was the first to have HUD. In the 1988 Cutlass pace cars.