Rare Factory Camper: 1977 Chevrolet Blazer Chalet
Fancy a weekend of camping or fishing? Just want to get away from it all? Then this 1977 Blazer Chalet might be just the ticket. It’s a great looking vehicle with the 4-wheel drive capabilities that will take you almost anywhere that your heart desires. It is located in Peoria, Arizona and is listed for sale here on eBay.
At first glance, this Blazer appears to be about as clean as you can get, and seems to be fairly typical of the sort of condition that you generally expect from an Arizona vehicle. Those big wheels and tires give it a tough stance, and the paint and exterior trim look to be in good condition. I will issue a couple of small notes of caution. I’m not sure whether there might be a couple of small bubbles of rust down in the bottom rear corner of the passenger side door. It is hard to be sure from the photos, but there are two separate shots that seem to show something there. Also, behind the rear wheel arch on the driver’s side, it looks like there might have been a repair of some description performed there. Once again, it is a bit hard to be 100% sure on that.
With a 400ci V8 engine, a TH-350 transmission, and 4-wheel drive, this is a vehicle that should be capable of taking you to all but the most inaccessible of locations. Already blessed with pretty respectable ground clearance, the wheel and tire combination not only enhance this, but those tires, which are new, should give the vehicle some bite in any off-road scenario. Along with the new tires, the Blazer has also recently received new plugs, plug wires, and new belts.
The interior of the Blazer has survived the Arizona sun and heat fairly well. There are some cracks in the dash, but the rest of the interior appears to be in good condition for a vehicle of this type and age. The seats and door trims are showing a minimum of wear, the carpet looks good, and the presence air conditioning would make for comfortable long-distance motoring. The only note of disappointment for me is the fact that we don’t get a look at what is inside the Chalet itself, so we don’t know if it retains its original factory configuration, or what condition it’s in. Still, if the rest of the vehicle is any indication, it will hopefully be pretty good.
With only 1,780 Blazer Chalets being built, that makes this a relatively unusual vehicle, and they don’t come onto the market terribly often. A really rough example sold about 18 months ago for $11,000, while there is one other example that has just listed for $20,000. The owner of this one has set a BIN price of $16,000, and there is the option available to make an offer. So, fancy a spot of fishing?
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Comments
Reminds me of a GNX for some reason.
Nice truck, but what is with these Ebay sellers lately? 16 large and a 15 word description and a few pictures. I would have really liked to see the inside of the camper, since that is a major selling point of this truck.
I’ve only seen these Chalet’s on pics, never IRL . Interesting Blazer and I like the fact it still has the ’rounding line’ taillights on the camper.
However; could someone inform me whether these also came with a regular hard/soft top or were these supposed to carry the camper all year long?
From what I have heard, the original Blazer top will not fit it as they had to do some cutting modifications for the camper shell.
@Frank M – not sure where you might have picked that up. Several guys in our Yahoo Chalet forum ( https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/ChevyK5BlazerChalets/info ) have swapped out the factory caps and put orphaned camper units on non-original Blazers & Jimmys, and vice versa. One of our members wrote up a lengthy build thread over at CK5 on the removal of his camper & installment of a softtop ) https://ck5.com/forums/threads/76-k5-blazer-chalet-put-the-ol-girl-out-to-pasture-literally.268849/page-8#post-2826175 )…. but he later rolled the camperless truck.
Russell C, thanks for the updated info. I’m not sure where I heard about it, too many years ago. But, I remember thinking that it was odd because the Blazer didn’t look modified. Oh well, first error I’ve made this year. 362 days to go. :)
These were a joint effort between GM and Chinook (same company that put out the Datsun/Toyota Chinook campers in that same era) and were sold as complete units through GM dealerships. Contrary to an oft-repeated line on the internet, these are NOT slide-in camper units, they were permanent bolt-downs via all the locating holes that the regular caps used, plus they were additionally bolted down via the dinette seat frames, and the camper wiring was spliced right into the truck wiring – no quick disconnect there. If GM or Chinook had been thinking a little more practically, these should have been engineered to be much more easily removable.
Thanks for sharing that info.Ever since I got aware of the Chalet I thought the camper was meant to come off somehow, though I specifically remember from my 77 Blazer a warning label stating ‘this vehicle is not designed to carry a slide-in camper’.When I look at the pics it’s also obvious the bumper, exhaust, even the hitch ,are all in the wrong place for non-camper duties.Doesn’t even have a tailgate!
Totally agree with you this wasn’t a very thought trough solution…
Nice truck but I would still prefer the Blazer itself. Those camper conversions, while convenient, weren’t much useful for anything else but sleeping in. Well equipped with the 400 and A-C. I sure can’t understand why people keep changing the carburetor from the stock Quad, but maybe that’s just my own opinion.
This is Chalet #1460 (we ID these by the serial number plate on the back, photo composite of that from my former #1747 here: http://oi50.tinypic.com/2411oxz.jpg ). There is one camper interior photo seen at the seller’s Phoenix area Craigslist ad ( https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/cto/d/peoria-1977-k5-blazer-chalet-all/6775736511.html ), and it is not an overall good sign for this rig. The ad says “all original”, but the list of non-original items includes the non-factory cloth reupholstered seats, non-original carpeting, missing cabinet latches, owner-installed stereo speakers, non-original camper stripes, aftermarket grille / wheels. Back when I first saw this one listed in 2013 Cottonwood AZ Craigslist ads under a different seller (I presume), it sank from a starting price of $6000 down to $3500, and I’d place its value at somewhere within that range since the only improvements to it since that time are the “new plugs wires belts gaskets and brakes and tires” seen in the latest ad. To achieve the goal of ‘factory showroom new’ collector value, this one has a long ways to go, cost wise.
Buyer beware. Too many of these lately are being priced like they are Tiffany lamp garage sale discoveries, when they really are not much more than spit-shined rigs in need of a ton or restoration cost & effort.
I bought my 76, new, from the dealer in 77. dealers were all offered one, the two years they were offered. he didn’t sell it in 77, but sorta made me a deal. my window sticker was $12,878. the 76 had this paint layout, the 77s had the opposite color combo. the one for sale in this thread, has been repainted.. I traded a one owner, special order, rare 65 elcamino with 396/pg, ps, pb, posi, no air, cloth seats. also traded a one owner, 57 chevy 2dr ht with 6 stick and over drive, with only 12,000 miles and some cash. put it up for sale in 79 and only got $5000. had a real hard time selling it, here in nebraska. like all the odd balls I had, they became worth a whole lot more, years down the road.. the 60 impala was also a one owner, 348 tri power, pg, ps, pb, air, posi, elec seats and windows, all were western montana cars. I lived in whitefish. the 71 vega also had factory air, 4 spd, posi. got it from a helicopter pilot who kept a detailed maintance manual..
I’m the guy trying to track all of these in existence. The only other one I’ve seen with slotted mag wheels like yours is Chalet #0814 in Iowa. Did you save any kind of records of your rig with the truck VIN?
True, that all the ’76s were painted in basically the identical color combo (the side accent area varies slightly as I show here http://conversiontrucks.net/Forum/gallery/31_09_08_13_10_04_04.jpg ), but the ’77s — as much as I’ve found so far — came in 6 color combos, including ‘all-tan’ http://conversiontrucks.net/Forum/gallery/31_09_08_13_9_58_23.jpg , so it’s most likely that Chalet #1460 is one of those that’s missing its original camper stripes.
If I told my girlfriend I was taking her to my “Chalet” in the woods, I don’t think she would understand about being technically correct. At least I would have something to live in during her cooling off period.
I took mine to glacier park once, then moved to nebr and went to the black hills once. was fun to drive with friends, when we all drank. one funny time, I was going down the interstate, two of us drinkin, drivin between billings and glendive. had to pee, so my friend held the steering wheel while I went to the back. opened the door and started to pee… didn’t know, the wind would swirl it back into my face…. another time, I was driving south of casper toward Cheyenne, oct 78, big blizzard. a truck passed me and when the wind hit me, it blew me into the medium and I was up to my runninboards. they came with full time 4wd. everybody carried a shovel, etc in case you had to put out a fire. I had to dig, warm up, dig, warm up, etc, till I got myself out. was about midnite and the highway got blocked off after I went by the crossing guards, the highway department puts down, to block the highway. it liked gas and tires didn’t last long.. the photo is the day I sold it.. didn’t get even close to the asking price.
Why no photos of the inside of the camper?
Because it’s been for sale before ?
the dealer had the 76 I bought and the 77, both setting beside each other on their lot, in Kalispell, mt.. they were both the same color other than the colors were reversed on the 77. after I sold mine, I never saw anymore other than a few years later I saw mine for sale, along the highway in ft. Laramie, wyo, and another, somebody took the camper off of because the lid got caught by the wind and made it useless. ive seen the japaneese conversions, on smaller trucks, here and there with the chinook conversions.
Kind of surprised seeing all the b@!! busting that is going on concerning this rig, that no one has brought up the rattle can detail on the engine and EVERYTHING within close proximity………………………….