'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Many of you know Doug W. aka "1976K5CHALET" here and his references to http://www.blazerchalet.com/ , but did you notice he now has an owners' forum especially for Blazer Chalets and GMC Jimmy Casa Grandes? It's here: http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/...BlazerChalets/ I help out a little bit on that site as a moderator since ol' Doug gets kinda busy out in the oil fields lately... It's a free signup, members get to see lots of gallery photos and a good forum for trading info and restoration tips on these rare GM factory campers.

Anyway, I bought my '77 Chalet in March 2006, practically the same description as "82 Silvarado 4X" 's http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...ad.php?t=66235 except I was fortunate to score an Arizona truck with practically no rust and an exceptionally good original metalflake paint job. Needs all new weather stripping and for various other mechanical issues to be solved, though. Nearly all of the drivetrain refurbishing has been professionally done, that's the most important part.

- Russell,
Phoenix AZ

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Welcome to the board from Western Kentucky. Nice truck.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

That is a nice truck. All these years and I never new about or saw one of those.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Welcome to the board from South Mississippi!:D

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Welcome to the board from West Tennessee.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Welcome from FT Worth TX.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Those things are sweet! Great idea by GM, don't know why they didn't make it big.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Welcome to the board from Texas

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:welcome2: from South Texas.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Thanks, all. I'd heard of them for many years, but hadn't seen any in person until 2005, when I actively started looking for one. GM provided me with official production numbers for the Chevy versions, 688 in 1976 and 867 in 1977, and our guess for both years of the GMC Jimmy Casa Grande version is only 225, if the "total production figure" of 1780 cited in the blazerchalet.com web site is accurate.

General Motors probably thought it was a good idea also, considering the sales of the Toyota Chinooks (more or less the same design, different dimensions) were fairly good. Our speculation is that the campers were a tad too much for the Blazer's spring & axle setups and that "ye olde Government" suggested either all of them might need to be recalled or else production should just stop. Speculation only, though.....

Rare as they are, I doubt they would end up pricey like Yenko Camaros. I bought mine mostly for practical purposes (see pic below), but also for the aesthetics of it. Love that '70s styling........

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

welcome from WA

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Welcome to the board from Central Califorina!:metal:

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Welcome to the board from New zealand

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:welcome2: From West TN :hi2:

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Welcome To The Boards From The Great White North!

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Welcome from MD !!!!!!

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Welcome from Ky

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I just found out about these 1 or 2 years agoe. Very rare. Yours looks great.

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Appreciate the welcomes & compliments. A couple of years ago, I sent an email inquiry to some Chevrolet customer service web page, to ask if anyone knows the actual production figures for these. No response. Last summer, I sent the same inquiry to a GMC customer rep site, expecting nothing. However, about a month later I received a reply:

Thank you for contacting the GMC Customer Assistance Center. We appreciate you taking the time to write us in regards to productions figures on the 1976-1977 GMC Jimmy Casa Grande and the 1976-1977 Chevrolet Blazer Chalet.

The production totals are

1976 Blazer Chalet camper total is 688
1977 Blazer Chalet camper total is 867

1976 GMC Jimmy total is 18,551
1977 GMC Jimmy total is 21,013
No breakdown for GMC available

Our guess for both years of the GMC Casa Grande version is only 225, if the total production figure of 1780 is accurate, according to a "magazine reference" cited in the blazerchalet.com web site.

- Russell

Re: 'nother Blazer Chalet
 

Welcome To The Board From Southern Oregon.