1976-77 Chevy Blazer Chalet / GMC Jimmy Casa Grande

[ol' Blazer Chal]

I have a thread in the Letters to GM forum http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/s...92#post1335892 in hopes of catching somebody official at GM who knows a little of the history about these. Photo of my own '77 serial #1747 here, post #43 1973-1987/1991 GM Trucks/SUV Picture Thread At the very least, a helpful customer service rep at GMC told me about the official numbers for the Chevy Blazer versions, 1,555 were made for both years. It sure would be neat to know exactly how many GMC Jimmy versions were made.

Have any of you spotted one recently? Got photos? I do almost daily internet searches for these and can generally catch most of the ones for sale, but there must be a bunch more just sitting neglected out there, or still used occasionally for camping by owners who have no idea how rare they are.

[EldoFan]

Those are some spiffy looking vehicles there! I wouldn't mind tracking down one myself.....(though I'm sure good examples are even harder to find than regular rust-free K5's of that era....)

I don't know of any production numbers.....but they do remind me of 'Earthroamer XVJPs' (based on the Jeep Wrangler).

Loved the pics too .....I imagine maintenance on those has to be kind of problematic due to hard-to-find parts/components....

[91 s-10baja]

I did not even know that vehicle existed? That is pretty cool!

[ol' Blazer Chal]

EldoFan - one was auctioned in Valentine Neb last summer for $1800, rust free but sometime in its recent life somebody forgot to tie down the interior roof straps and it was obvious that the roof had popped open during transport and had blown clean off the vehicle. That would be a tough repair! Parts are scarce and not many are interchangeable with the Toyota/Datsun Chinooks of the same era. My gripe with the Earthroamer Jeep and other aftermarket pop top campers for Blazers & Jimmys is that they only have a window on one side. Chalets/Casa Grandes have great visibility out both side windows.

97 s-10baja - I think there might still be one for sale in Tacoma, definitely still one for sale in Spokane on Craigslist, plus one other guy has one somewhere in Seattle. Still, they aren't often seen unless you happen to be in the right place at the right time.

If anybody else is interested, PM me for a list of 19 for sale around the country. I'm not affiliated with the sales in any way, just want to see them go to appreciative homes.

[ol' Blazer Chal]

Just a tiny bit of self-promotion, I suppose, since my '77 Chevy Blazer Chalet appears at the top of pg 48 in the April issue of Hemmings Motor News. But more important, it tells the basic story of these rare GM 4x4 campers and gives readers some idea of their collector value by mentioning the one that was sold at the January '09 Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale auction. That same one is mentioned again on pg 52 in the summary of the auction results, click this link for the B-J site page.

As ever, I'm always appreciative of any sightings you have of these, PM me with details.

[Vinsetta]

I really don't have anything of value to add here but just a coincidence. I was looking for old GM car and truck ad's over the internet and found one for these two weeks ago and never heard of it in my life and now these posts. Intersting vehicles.

[ol' Blazer Chal]

Originally Posted by Vinsetta

..never heard of it in my life and now these posts..

Yep, that's the fun aspect of these. In other Chevy truck-specific forums, I've seen the same response. Zillions of people know about '70s Chevy trucks and Blazers, so they're almost taken for granted, and many have overlooked these with too fast of a glance as 'just a truck' with a camper.

I'm pleased with the response to the article, our Yahoo Chalet owners' forum has several new members who joined after seeing it.

Last I heard about ones for sale in MI, there was a Casa Grande shell-only in Detroit, and a Chalet shell-only in Alpena. Seems the fiberglass camper lasts longer than the steel Blazer in your part of the country.

Supposedly there is an owner in Bay City with three of these, but I have never caught up with him.

[thomatt12]

I like oldschool and classic cars, including 70s Chevy trucks like those you mentioned. This is a really interesting thread. I want to see more pictures of these classics.

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[ol' Blazer Chal]

That "list of 19 for sale around the country" note I had in my post #4 above has since ballooned up to over 50 lately. The lousy economy accounts for that, I'm sure.

That's too many to commit to memory, so I had to create a Google map to keep track of them. PM me for specifics, or let me know if you've spotted one yourself, some might belong to our Yahoo Chalet owners' forum members (around 70 at last count), but others must be still out there.

[OLDSCHOOLGMFAN]

These sound plum cool! One thing I like about the '73 to '91 GM trucks is that they bought the 70s into the 90s! The 70s is one of my favorite eras for GM/American cars!

[Joe in T.O.]

I read that article in Hemmings. I don't ever remember seeing one in real life. My brother had a 1970? Chevy pickup "Camper Special" where the bed was actually 6" longer than the regular 8'-0" bed.