Update 4/7/20 – This Chalet has found it’s way back onto the market. We aren’t sure if it has changed hands since we last featured it but it’s now listed here on eBay with a $4,500 starting bid and new photos.
From 11/16/19 – This rusty 1976 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Chalet edition looks like a sad case of an otherwise low-use vehicle that sadly lived in a rust-belt state. The seller claims it has low mileage of just 31,000, and some of the details seem to bear this out. The Blazer is also a “Deluxe” package Chalet, which added cots in the top level and the full accouterment of camping gear. Find it here on craigslist in Minnesota for $2,700, and thanks to Barn Finds reader Jake K. for the find.
The Chalet package is one of those novelty-type ideas that actually worked out pretty well, in my opinion. The integration of the camper shell was well done, right down to the color schemes and graphics kits they used. And even better, the sleeping quarters and cooking/camping gear was the right mix of utility and living space for owners with wanderlust in their veins.
Here are some of the details that give me some confidence the low mileage can be verified: those seating surfaces look quite clean and not suffering from heavy use, and the same can be said of the cabinetry and other surfaces that typically take a lot of abuse in vehicles intended for camping. The cushions also appear well-stuffed, indicating the foam hasn’t given out from excessive use.
The Blazer still runs, too, and even the engine bay looks fairly tidy. The seller notes he drives it around his property, but it still has plenty of needs beyond the rust which is noted as extending into the frame. The tires are shot, as is the exhaust, and it needs a rear brake line. These are coming back into vogue, and I feel like there’s a good amount of ceiling here for the enterprising bodyman to not lose his shirt on a resto.
Sold quickly, it appears
Do you suppose they let the air out of that tire so it would fit under the deck? It doesn’t look as though it would fit otherwise.
Maybe they could not get it out, and decided to sell it
“caveat emptor”
Yep…not a surprise at the price……the camper wasn’t all trashed out and that part is hard to find in that condition…..Blazer part is easily replaced………
This Chalet is a BARGAIN!!!!
Install the Chalet camper shell on a rust-free 1989-1991 Blazer with fuel injection and overdrive then you will have a REAL Blazer Chalet .
Sell the original rusty Blazer to a mud bogger who will pay more than the asking price for this complete Chalet!
Install the Chalet camper shell new F.I. Blazer, and the result would be a better Blazer Chalet, but not a real one. The collector value in this is the complete factory-original rig as it sat new on the dealership floor. Separate ’em and what you have is a $500 (at most) orphaned camper unit, and whatever the going rate for good Blazer is these days.
It’s now listed for $5000 on CL in Minneapolis.
I would mount it on a later model diesel blazer.
That air filter would choke a Cub Cadet.
This is Chalet #0487, built in 8/76. Generally when Chalets are back up for sale at around double what the selling price was weeks or months earlier, it’s good indication that it’s being sold by a person who wants to flip it for a big profit. Certainly not the first time in recent years I’ve seen this done. Interior looks better than average, but the truck rust might render the Blazer unsalvageable.
A good friend of mine right now is separating his NICE Blazer Chalet Shell from his 1977 Blazer Chalet.
Why?
His NICE 1977 Blazer is worth more without the shell selling it as a regular Blazer than complete as a Blazer Chalet. There are far more people looking for a NICE Blazer with Lots of Money than there are looking for a NICE Blazer Chalet!
He can then sell the nice Blazer Chalet shell complete to another buyer to install on a later model FI square body Blazer giving that buyer a much nicer “Blazer Chalet”.
Collector Value? Maybe to a few HOWEVER that is not situation with most buyer’s out there.
A BIG WIN WIN for him as the seller separating the Nice Blazer from the Nice Blazer Chalet Shell selling them separate any way you look at it!
I’d thoroughly disagree, the complete factory original Chalet rigs are significantly more rare than ordinary squarebody Blazers, and as demonstrated recently, there are a few (likely limited, though) uninformed buyers out there paying double what really good Chalets are worth.
Got a contact for your friend you can share here of an ad listing for the camper unit, or can you at minimum share what the serial # is for the camper unit? It’s on the little rectangular plate by the back door, will read 7BCA – – – -, where the last four digits is the individual identifier number for the rig. I could really use the VIN for the Blazer as well, I’m the guy with the mega-spreadsheet tracking all of these still in existence, also am the current caretaker of the old blazerchalet.com website, and former owner of Chalet #1747.
You know the guy.
This is the last of the 13 Chalets he owned and sold.
He is very well versed in the value of Chalets and even more so the value in square body Blazers.