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OR 1977 GMC Chalet $24950
- Thread starter kennyw
- Start date
Totally worth it.
I love those orange decals.
Although I don't think I've ever seen a GMC version before. Makes me wonder if it is original, restored, or a conversion using Chevy parts.
I have seen the gmc, it's not called chalet but Casa Grande
Correct, GMC Jimmy Casa Grande. This one is #1457, built in 12/76. Essentially identical to the Chalet, with the differences being in what it was between the Blazer and the Jimmy trucks, and different striping for the camper and a different back door decal. Identical in the camper interior. Supposedly (I haven't found a confirmation of it yet) there were 1,780 total units made in the two-year run of these (that number is only seen in a 1979 Treasure Search magazine's statement, 2nd paragraph in our man Dremu's old screengrab), and the GM factory confirms there were 1,555 of the Chevy versions. Do the math and you end up with 225 Casa Grandes.
The value of it as is now is a topic for debate. If it can be stipulated that the big dollar values in collector cars is in the ones coming closest to literal factory showroom-new dead nuts accurate restorations, this one misses by a tragic margin. Imagine if you found a tired but otherwise good condition Yenko Camaro, and chose to put in a generic JC Whitney carpet kit in a color not especially close to what the factory had, and then repainted in in a metallic copper that sorta looks like what a Yenko pastel orange might look like, and then painted the roof in a textured brown color while installing Pontiac Firebird inner door panels, and put on the wrong style emblems. It's what we have here, a never-used truck paint combo, the camper units were never painted like that, the truck's door panels are not factory-correct, and it appears to have the stainless steel/black trim that's seen on '76 model year trucks (I know the yellow-painted trim was a '77-only Chevy item, but I'll stand corrected if it was not also a '77-only GMC thing).
It may look all '70s style, and probably runs fine, but I'd put it at basic daily driver value for a 43 year old vehicle with nice new paint and carpet, probably half its asking price. The tragedy is that from the last I saw of it before it was repainted, the original factory pastel truck & camper colors might have been salvageable with a good oxidized paint removal/polish. Now, it would take mega-bucks of effort to peel off all that incorrect paint, if you want a factory-correct '77 collectible for investment purposes.
I admire your passion and attention to detail!
Keeps me off the streets and out of trouble. Poor as I am, it's the most I can do with the K5 hobby until money falls out of the sky.
This thing has popped back up on a dealer lot for $30K. I also found out it was recently sold for $19K just before the $25K ad.
Eek. It's been a trend over the last 5 or so years, there are two kinds of guys buying these, guys who've always wanted one to keep for the long term, and hugely uninformed dealer/flippers who've figured out how to sell these either amongst themselves for ever-inflated prices, or how to sell them to the rare suckers out there who've always wanted one and who have more money than sense and zero time to do intensive internet research into the details, values, and sales histories of these. The shop that was doing the vinyl graphics for the just-prior flipper owner if this Casa Grande #1457 emailed me to ask what I knew of the original vinyl colors, which I don't have pinned down for the '77 Casa Grandes, but the irony is that nobody working for the guy apparently bothered to ask about original factory truck/camper colors.
Got any info on the dealer lot, or any internet ad from them?
Many thanks for that!
And now for the latest update, 3 (or possibly 4) owners later in the span of just short of two years, this #1457 Casa Grande is going to be auctioned at the Mecum Kissimmee auction sometime between Jan 6th and 16th: https://www.mecum.com/lots/FL0122-505876/1977-gmc-jimmy-casa-grande/
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Its still pretty nice.
I almost forgot about this thread - The Kissimmee auction result was a no-sale high bid of $42 grand (seller should have taken the money and ran). So, popcorn time 
once again on this non-factory color repainted '77 Casa Grande #1457, where the Google email alert I got last night is for the upcoming March 18-20 Punta Gorda Florida "Gulf Coast Classic" auction weekend event. If I have it right, this one appears Saturday https://www.premierauctiongroup.com/vehicles/6393/1977-gmc-jimmy-4x4-casa-grande-camper
once again on this non-factory color repainted '77 Casa Grande #1457, where the Google email alert I got last night is for the upcoming March 18-20 Punta Gorda Florida "Gulf Coast Classic" auction weekend event. If I have it right, this one appears Saturday https://www.premierauctiongroup.com/vehicles/6393/1977-gmc-jimmy-4x4-casa-grande-camper
I'd forgotten about @kennyw's post about this Casa Grande #1457. It auctions tomorrow at the Bring a Trailer site https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1977-gmc-jimmy-10/ , but it's a Reserve auction, and if the seller really did pay $53,900 for it and the Mecum auction fee that they charged at the 2022 Orlando auction, it probably won't get sold if it doesn't reach that level. And of course, there's the drama happening in the BaT comments section with one of the prior sellers trying to defend the (undisclosed) value he paid for it, when the guy he bought it from misrepresented the reason to him for the repaint on it. Flipsaler classic car dealers don't like it when I bring up facts about these rigs ....
