Custom Chevrolet Trailblazer

Owner: Ron Hecht
Ride: Chevy Trailblazer
Location: Jackson, Missouri
Club: Negative Camber

After you build a full-out show truck, get it featured in a major publication, and show it for awhile, what else is there to do but sell it and start a whole new project and repeat? That's exactly what Ron Hecht from Jackson, Missouri, did. Knowing that he was going to start this new project by cutting it up, he thought: Why go out and buy a perfectly good new truck? Why not buy something that was wrecked and bring it back to life? He found exactly what he was looking for at C&C Auto back in February 2002, a Chevy Trailblazer that had been rolled a couple of times. Wanting to build something completely different from the norm, Ron sent a roll back after it and had it taken across town to Mike's Body Shop, where the roof was cut off and replaced along with new front doors. He also added a GMC Envoy front clip to freshen things up a little. Once back together and in primer, it was sent off to Air Ride Technologies in Jasper, Indiana, to be used as a template for their new lowering system for Trailblazers and Envoys. Once the suspension was intact, it was time to tackle the rest of the finishing touches. After spending some time in the shop, Ron had the unfinished truck picked up and taken to Quality Collision for Chris to see if he could finish up the project. The frame was cut up and it wound up being scrapped, and one from a burnt Trailblazer was found and taken to Keith over at Morfab Customs, where he smoothed the frame, cut off all the unnecessary brackets, and put in a frame jig to mount the suspension components.

While the frame was being massaged into shape, the body was then taken over to Jerry's Auto Body to get stripped and all of the bodywork done. They also talked Ron into swapping out the Envoy front clip in favor of something a little different...something that had never been done. After some measurements and a few trips to the local car lots looking for ideas, it was determined that with a little work, the front end from a Buick Rainier would fit. Once this new conversion was done, it was off to the paint booth for the base colors before Mayhem got a hold of it to lay down the '57 Chevy chrome graphics before the final coats of clear were sprayed. With the body and frame finally back together, it was all taken back to Morfab's to have the engine covers and custom-built mirrors installed.

At this point the details were all that was left to put Ron's next custom to feature-level quality. Not long after it was done, we were able to catch up with him and snap these photos for you and show the world that doing the same old thing is not necessarily what it takes to build a premier magazine-quality ride. Check out the Lowdown for more specifics.