In the late 1990's, the Supersizing of America was well underway, thanks in part to cheap gasoline prices. Apparently nobody wanted a regular cab truck as a daily driver. Instead, crew cabs became the norm and bed sizes shrank. When S-series trucks proliferated with 4 doors and 55-inch beds, I knew my next vehicle would not be an S-10 or a Sonoma. By 2004, my Sonoma was showing its age and I began searching for a new vehicle.
My search was bittersweet. I really did enjoy my little red truck. At that stage of automobile engineering, the Sonoma was a decently reliable vehicle. By today's standards, the S-series lineup would have been considered high maintenance, but back then I had the time and desire to do my own repairs. I decided to keep my truck for hauling dirt bikes and buying large items at Home Depot. My next vehicle would be...<gasp>...an SUV.
Never in my worst dream did I expect to own a sport utility vehicle. I just didn't get them. Why buy a car built onto a truck platform? SUV owners called their vehicles "trucks", as if they could put a dirt bike inside and go racing. This made no sense. But in 2004, the SUV craze had been underway for years and I'll be darned if I didn't get sucked into it.
The vehicle was a Chevy Blazer. Not the regular kind, but the wider, jacked up ZR2 version. The ZR2 moniker was GM's off-road designation for the S-series lineup. These configurations were intended for light off-road use off the lot, but could be easily modified into semi-serious rock crawlers. Near the end of 2004, I had my sights set on a leftover Blazer ZR2, now in its final year of production. Dealer discounts were steep and I'd spent many years building up new car purchase credit on a GM credit card. I was ready to spend some money.