Wanted – Chevy Blazer: 1977 Chalet Camper Shell
This one is a little different but it’s giving me an eye tick and/or quivering lip thinking of how much I’d like to have this camper. Having grown up in a camper during the spring, summer, and fall seasons, I’ve had the hard-sided pickup camper bug for decades. This is a 1977 Chalet camper shell, yes, from the famous Blazer Chalet models. It’s listed here on eBay in Macon, Illinois and the current bid is $2,575. This camper is as cool as Steve McGarrett, although even with the top up, it’s not quite as high as his hair was.
If this were in my city I’d have a hard time not grabbing it or at least seriously bidding on it. Not that a similar era Chevrolet Blazer would be even remotely cheap to purchase since they’re one of the current “it” vehicles, but this would just be fun to restore on its own even if it never sat on a Chevy Blazer again. I wonder if it’d fit on a 1980 Dodge D-50 pickup… hmm..
The photos are basically horrible and I mean no disrespect to the seller, but they really are. That being said, they do show a good portion of the camper inside and out and a person could probably make enough on their YouTube channel cleaning this thing up in front of a camera to pay for it. It appears to be in really good condition which is surprising, and look at that canvas pop-top, it looks great. Ok, it isn’t perfect but if I had a Blazer that would fit under this thing I’d be chained to this keyboard until the auction was won and I was arranging a trip to pick it up.
These are rare beasts as you know from seeing so many of them recently (is that an oxymoron?) and seeing the prices that they command. A few months ago you couldn’t swing _ ____ ___ (un-pc phrase) without hitting a $40,000 Blazer-Chalet combo, even here on Barn Finds. We’ve shown a gaggle of them over the last few months but as weird as it sounds, none of them have been as exciting to me as this plain camper shell. Maybe it’s the price that’s drawing me in, but I think it would be fun to restore this thing.
Sadly, that’s what the seller thought when they bought this two decades ago as a complete Blazer Chalet. The Blazer went to the graveyard – it was too far gone to save – and then they built this cool, custom dolly for it and it’s been rocking and rolling around in their shop building ever since. At least it’s been inside, but in the photo above, if you can make out anything in that photo, you can see that it needs mucho work inside.
The company only made around 1,800 of them and this example is #1,780 so it’s about as late of a model as it gets, hopefully made before the factory workers knew that they’d soon be laid off or at least moved to another factory line. The refrigerator and power inverter are missing but you’d want to update those things anyway. I know it’s weird, but I really like this and think it would be a fun restoration project. Then start searching for a 4×4 to put under it. Any thoughts on this one?
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Comments
So my guess is the Blazer rusted out from under it
Maybe Frankenstein it onto a Chevy Avalanche, Cadillac Escalade PU or a Honda Ridgeline.
I like your thinking, Sam61!
Or go really weird and graft it onto an Avanti.
Or I’ll frankenstein it one better. Graft it to a Pontiac Aztec? Hmmm. Yess? No?? Like I said. Hmm?
If it actually sells for the top bid it’s at now (assuming the top bidder doesn’t renege on payment), it will be the highest price I’m aware of for an orphaned camper unit, about double what the second highest confirmed price I have for one of these. As I’ve said in prior BarnFinds comments for complete rigs, I’m the current caretaker of the VERY old blazerchalet.com website, who also has the mega-spreadsheet list of 600-ish of these which I can individually ID so far. I’ve been tracking the sales of complete rigs and orphaned camper units ever since 2005, and off the top of my head, I can only think of maybe three other camper units that sold by themselves for $1500-$1700, while the bulk of them have sold for between $700 to $300 and on further down to “free-just-get-it-the-heck-off-my-property-before-I-have-to-crush-it.” There’s basically no collector value in these when they are minus the original factory truck they were installed on.
It´s worthy of a date with a crusher, that´s it.
Times have changed Russell!!!
With the “New” popularity of camping and Overlanding there are lot’s of folks looking for vintage fiberglass shells, campers and slide-in’s that will mount on smaller more capable trucks like a Blazer/Bronco. There are now far more people that you might suspect looking for units such as this and willing to spend a LOT OF MONEY buying em. Not everyone wants (they certainly do not need) a 25ft-30ft camper of motorhome to do their vision of RVing.
I am currently putting a Bronco specific 1993 Hallmark camper on a 4 door C350 Bronco. I like the Hallmark camper much better than the Chinook made Chalet camper I have owned in the past and used on the Blazers due to less weight and lower profile.
You will know who I am as I and the other fellow in Nashville had the 13 Blazer Chalets at one time.
If I may respectfully add as a form of *asterisk clarifier, the “people willing to spend a lot of money buying ’em” appear to also be people unwilling to do any background research on the relative values of these, whether orphaned camper units or complete rigs. Of the dozen+ ‘high dollar’ rigs I’ve seen over the last 5 or so years, all — with one exception (Chalet #1424 which I don’t have prior sale info on) — could have purchased by the winning bidders for half as much or less before the classic car dealer sellers got to them. That includes the $125 grand Chalet #0429 in last March’s BaT auction. Impatience and loads of extra cash seem to be ruling the day in the current ‘market’ for these, but it is unsustainable. Chalet #1221 in its Apr 15 eBay auction topped out at a grand less than its prior attempt, for example. We’ll see if the final bid with this one was legit or if it was just some pair of kids clowning around …
$3050 right now. SMH, cant see that its worth that kind of scratch, but I’m just an ol grey hair. The Big If is if the winning bidder is for real. Anyhoo, good luck. interesting project, this thing has to be a top heavy ol girl.
Cheers
GPC
One of the reasons why I get the VINs for the truck part of the full rigs whenever I can is because a fear of mine is that one day a person may find a decent condition camper unit and put it on a rust-free K5 of appropriate vintage, and try to pass off the whole thing as a one-piece factory original …. especially lately in light of Chalet #0429 (an alleged time-capsule original) landing its $125 grand auction price at the “Bring a Trailer” online auction last March. Although I don’t have the VIN on this one from the seller (he didn’t save docs with that on ’em), he did tell me what color the factory Blazer was for it, and then said (and I quote verbatim), I was going to redo it but the frame was rotted and bent so I saved the camper shell and junked the rest.”
Seller scrapped the wrong part of his Chalet – the K5 itself must have been in a really LOUSY condition to not at least be given a second lease of life as a bog runner
I have fond memories of touring the West with my mom and dad in 1977. 9500 miles and 4 weeks. Dad had a 1976 Chevy c20 with a camper in the bed. Pennsylvania to California across the southwest going out. Back through Yellowstone coming home. We were in a small diner in Arizona when a guy walked in and asked out loud who owns the Chevy truck from Pennsylvania? Dad thought someone hit it but the guy asked if we were from the johnstown area and told us that johnstown is under water! (77 flood)
Considering what new pop top campers like the Fourwheel go for, 3 grand plus restoration costs should leave you money ahead. I have a 1981 Fourwheel that I bought for 800 bucks and is quite functional. It’s not just good it’s good enough! (Thank you Krustyco!).
I have the GMC Jimmy in sure it will fit . That’s if my deal didn’t fall thru. I worked my deposit off and the Jimmy needs a Trans rebuild but it is a Wyoming truck and I’d love to have this gem for it !
What if you spotted a Craigslist ad for an orphaned unit where the asking price was $500 (as many I’ve seen over the years tend to be)? Would you still prefer this one instead?
Too big & heavy for a Dodge Ram 50!
selling for $$4000
Attending lots of farm auctions, I often see items sell for well above new costs. Lack of knowledge or research, money in hand and the sale is made. Seems true here on Barn Finds too with respect for actual “collector” value. (I’ve never been to BaT.) I do watch the big high-ticket auto auctions sometimes. Astonishing prices on cars that will never see asphalt again.
The first thing I thought about when I saw these pictures was, why didn’t the seller take some time to clean this thing up and do some repairs before photographing it and listing it? That’s what I did anytime I put a car up for sale. Make it as presentable as possible, and you’ll get a lot of interest. The only time I didn’t go to that kind of trouble was when I was selling a car for parts.
Auction update: this camper sold for $5,402! At least two people thought it had the right number of zeroes.
Or alternatively, at least two people had not done any background research on what the relative prices for orphaned camper units has been for many years. This is also assuming both top bidders were actually legitimately bidding on it. It’s final bid was 3.5X+ higher than any prior price I’m aware of for orphaned camper units, and in both of those cases, one buyer wasn’t aware of a more local free-for-the-taking camper unit, and the other placed more of a premium on getting one immediately to share restoration experience fun with his growing son as opposed to waiting for one to come out of the woodwork priced half as much or less months or a year down the road.