CTP FEATURE
InTheGarageMedia.com
The ‘SEMA Crunch’ is something I’ve personally never endured, thankfully, but I’ve watched as many have put themselves through the process in order to finish a vehicle just to be displayed at the world’s largest automotive convention. My buddy Ronnie Wetch, better known to some of you from his hugely popular C10 Talk podcast, decided it was a good idea to compound his daily duties as an Arizona firefighter by building his dream SUV, the ‘Big Sky Bonanza’ for SEMA 2025 … will he make the deadline?!”
—Rob Fortier
The ‘SEMA Crunch’ is something I’ve personally never endured, thankfully, but I’ve watched as many have put themselves through the process in order to finish a vehicle just to be displayed at the world’s largest automotive convention. My buddy Ronnie Wetch, better known to some of you from his hugely popular C10 Talk podcast, decided it was a good idea to compound his daily duties as an Arizona firefighter by building his dream SUV, the ‘Big Sky Bonanza’ for SEMA 2025 … will he make the deadline?!”
—Rob Fortier
The SEMA Crunch
A stripped Chevrolet C10 body shell painted orange and wood-grain, sitting on a custom chassis with orange wheels, in a driveway.
A disassembled custom vehicle build showing the orange C10 body lifted over the complete black chassis, engine, and transmission assembly in a garage.
The rear view of an orange Chevrolet C10 body shell with wood-grain side paneling, mounted on a chassis with bright orange wheels in a shop.
Ronnie Wetch’s Big Sky Bonanza Build
By CTP Staff Illustration by Tavis Highlander
O

ur main man behind the world-famous C10 Talk podcast AND the hugely successful Reunion Truck Show is obviously a glutton for punishment! On top of his full-time job fighting Arizona fires and raising a family, he’s also partaking in the SEMA Crunch this year, and we managed to get a few words out of him to accompany Tavis Highlander’s artist rendition of his Big Sky Bonanza project that we’ll all be admiring at the 2025 SEMA show once this issue finally hits newsstands! (Editor’s note: if you’ve ever had a conversation with Ronnie then the following will make total sense. If not, well …)

When did you obtain the Blazer and how long have you had it in your possession?

OK, cool story. When I was a kid, we had a 1974 K5 Blazer as the family trickster—camping and anything family … we had a family of five—so to get another ’74 was always something I thought would happen. 

Exterior side view of an orange Chevrolet C10 body shell with wood-grain sides, engine exposed, on a chassis with orange wheels.
One of the local guys had posted that he would see this ’73-75 all the time parked in front of a house so one day when I was up in the area with a buddy I thought, “You know what? I am in the area where I think he said that K5 Blazer is!”, so I called him. He was cool enough to not gate-keep it and shared the location. I drove over to the area and sure enough the Blazer was there. I see it and, funny story, there is an A/C truck out front, the garage door is open, and I walk up to the man door and knock. The mom of the owner is home and says, “I have turned down over a 100 people with notes and walk ups, but the A/C is out and we could use the money, so, yes I’ll sell it, but it’s my daughter’s technically.”

Anyway, I got the Blazer. This has been years in the making. It was supposed to get a slight paintjob and one thing turned into another, like these things do …

Was your original plan to build it and debut it at SEMA?

No. The original plan was to make it a rad driver, but once you start tearing into them, they run away from you. It was a running, driving Blazer!

What is your ultimate vision for this build? Simple and clean restoration? All-out overland/off-road build? 

I am a purest—loving the originality and styling of the classics—so some modern drivetrain and upgrades, yes, but with a classic look.  Sometimes keeping the classic vibe is hard—it’s easy to get carried away. The Blazer will have a brand-new fifth-gen LT1 motor, a 10L90 performance transmission, and an Atlas Transfer case—so a killer modern drivetrain.

The company I am building it under is Big Sky Classics (me). I grew up in Montana when we had the 1974 Blazer and with it being a full top I thought Big Sky was a good company name—the specific name for the Blazer is “Bonanza.” (Bonanza: a situation or event that creates a sudden increase in wealth, good fortune, or profits.)

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