- This 2005 TrailBlazer is like an even weirder Murano CrossCabriolet.
- Builder removed the roof, but not the stock interior or the sketchiness.
- Priced at $6,845, it is wildly impractical but still manages to feel tempting.
Whimsy is a term we see thrown around in social media about mystery-boxed stuffed toys, 900-calorie ‘coffee’ drinks, and overpriced accessories. What if someone applied the term to a 2005 Chevrolet TrailBlazer? One would probably end up with what we have here. A roadster version of the SUV, and one that both goes too far in some areas and probably not far enough in others.
The best part? You can own it for less than $7,000, but you might not want to when you’re done reading this.
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Whoever built this either started with a well-used SUV and decided its retirement plan should involve becoming the world’s strangest beach cruiser, or they chopped it years ago and somehow kept it alive and looking this clean. Frankly, either possibility is impressive. With over 170,000 miles on the odometer, this thing has clearly lived a life, yet it still looks shockingly tidy. The paint shines, the bodywork appears straight, and the cabin is bizarrely untouched.
That’s perhaps the funniest part. Open the doors, and it looks like a completely normal TrailBlazer inside. There isn’t a giant touchscreen, a fake carbon-fiber dashboard kit, an AutoZone shift knob, or even one lonely pine-tree air freshener hanging from the mirror. The builder went to the trouble of removing the entire roof, B-pillars, and rear structure, then apparently decided the stock gray cloth interior was perfect as-is. Which, to be fair, is kind of respectable.
There’s a strange purity to this thing. It doesn’t look like a show car. It doesn’t look like it was built for social media. It looks like one guy had an idea, committed to it with concerning enthusiasm, and then just… stopped when the roof was gone.
According to the dealer, an older man traded it in, though they didn’t have much more information than that. Even better, the dealership’s online description treats it like any other used TrailBlazer. There’s no mention of the fact that the roof has been deleted and the vehicle now has all the structural rigidity of a graham cracker.
That said, it’s possible that this was a professional build along with a few other similar TrailBlazers built for special events over 20 years ago. That said, there are a few small downsides. Like weather. This thing absolutely has to live indoors unless you want the interior to become a mold experiment by Labor Day. The Murano CrossCabriolet at least came with a power-operated fabric top. This has nothing. Leave it outside through one thunderstorm, and you’ll be driving a damp sponge.
Then there’s the tiny matter of safety. The original TrailBlazer’s roof, B-pillars, and C-pillars all helped the body maintain its shape. Remove those, and you’re left trusting that the windshield frame can somehow hold up the truck if it ever goes tires-to-the-sky. Spoiler alert. It probably can’t. There’s no visible roll bar, no extra reinforcement, and no sign that rollover protection was anywhere near the top of the builder’s to-do list.
Still, there’s something undeniably charming about it. The 2005 TrailBlazer’s 4.2-liter inline-six made 275 hp (205 kW) and 275 lb-ft (373 Nm) when new, and this one sends that power to the rear wheels. With some weight removed and most of the chassis stiffness gone with it, there’s a non-zero chance this thing is actually hilarious to drive.
Is it silly? Absolutely. Is it probably a terrible idea? Without question. But for $6,845, this may be the only first-generation TrailBlazer on Earth destined to spend the rest of its life as a garage queen, hauled out only for sunny days and confused looks at gas stations. And honestly, that feels exactly right. Given that it’s only around five hours away from me, I might have to find out what it drives like in person soon. Please snatch it up before I convince myself to do that.
