Vintage Overlander: 1977 Chevrolet Blazer Chalet
We’ve featured quite a few Chevrolet Blazer Chalets over the years here on Barn Finds. They seem to be coming out of the woodwork recently in varying conditions. Back in the ’70s, Chevy touted the Chalet as a “4-Wheel-Drive Cabin in the Woods.” Long before the overland trend of Earthroamers and roof-top tents, the Chalet combined a short wheelbase 4×4 Blazer with a pop-up style camper. This one is from 1977 and can be found here on eBay with a requested opening bid of $12,000 and there have been no bids yet. Located in St. George, Utah, I bet this Chalet has been toured around the canyons of the Beehive State. Check it out.
This particular example seems like a driver-quality vehicle or a good candidate for restoration. It appears to have been used but not abused and could benefit from a refreshing.
Here is the kitchenette. As you can see it features a small stove, refrigerator, sink, and overhead vent hood. While you probably won’t be serving Thanksgiving dinner out of it, there is enough to work with for one or two people.
The current engine is a 327; unfortunately, the seller says it needs replacing. Obviously, a small block would be the most economical way to go, but an LS or similar would be a great choice for reliability. If you are going to overland this Blazer solo, a reliable drive train is a must. The axles have been upgraded to 3/4 tons with a Detroit Locker in the rear. A small suspension lift has also been added and the seller says it will fit 33″ tires.
A nice design touch is the stock Chevy tail lights that are integrated into the rear of the camper. It looks a little awkward with the Blazer tail lights right in front of them, but they are still cool. Overall, this looks like a decent starter for a project. What do you think?
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Comments
Would not go taller with tires, rather go wider, beef up suspension, drop in a crate engine not too monstrous.
12k and it needs an engine? The original small block is just as durable and suitable imo as the ls for this application. Both engines are great though. Too much $ for this beast imo. More like 5k to me.
Chalet #1739 built in 1/77. I’m the current caretaker of the very old blazerchalet.com website who does my best to track the whereabouts of all of these still out there. Was surprised that this one has been unsold since its last St George Craigslist / KSL Utah classifieds ads …. and that he’s using the same 2016 photos at eBay now, except for what appears to be new ones of the rooftop and camper serial number plate.
Russell C has anybody made a way to disconnect the chalet like a slide in truck camper or is that it for the truck? Love the fiberglass ideas over most old truck bed campers corrugated aluminum over particle board!
My neighbor had to remove his camper unit to replace the rear quarter panels.
I remember it wasn’t an easy task but he did it.
I know of various guys who’ve gone through the giant chore of simply removing these (in one case the guy had to torch off the rusted bolts down through the frame from the dinette above), but in all the many years I’ve encouraged guys to see if they could engineer these to be easily removed & re-installed, nobody has taken that challenge. You’d have to first create a quick disconnect for the wiring since the Chinook company just spliced the camper wiring onto the truck wiring. But the main problem with these is how the front of the unit is just really self-supporting. While on the Blazers / Jimmys, the part overhead of the cab literally rests on the cab roof, and the forward sides rest on the forward parts of the truck bed sides. Off the trucks, the camper units gradually start to cave inward at the front, so some kind of new solid frame is needed in front. Then, the whole unit needs some kind of easy access lift points to raise it all up. Without them guys need to lift up the back and support it with wood pallets or something, and then somehow lift up the front above the cab roof. I’ve seen one guy use an enormous 4×6 plank under there supported by two huge step ladders on each side of his truck. There’s gotta be a better way!
I have a Charles I Been repainting number 631 11-76
I’d restore with a 6-cylinder and a stick shift overdrive.
Agree its a little pricey, just like 95% of vehicles I see for sale lately…..
No 6 cyl, just the 5 speed of like in my 96 k1500. My well seasoned 350/5.7 has 449,000 miles and is desperately due for a rebuild but it’s in western Wyoming and for sale if someone needs a engine to rebuild and a good 5 sp od
to me ‘the chalet ‘ was not a slide in like this. It was one continuous, not on a p/u but the blazer, but am not a follower so dont no the ins’n outs. The p/u seems pretty top heavy – the blazer would really be weak !
Chrlsful, these were beefed-up frames and suspensions from my understanding.
But these were blazers and or Jimmy’s. They could come out but not like a slide in pu camper.
Actually only the springs, with a frame extension for the back bumper. Adequate, but only barely, for what was an additional 800-ish pounds of camper. More often than not, I see these equipped with aftermarket helper springs (my former #1747 came with Rancho ones ( https://barnfinds.com/unrestored-rarity-1977-chevrolet-blazer-chalet/#comment-1221796 ) from the prior owner back in 2006, but I’ve see others add airbag setups to the back.
The camper could be removed, but was never designed for that, thus it is a huge chore to take ’em off.