Blazer Campers- The not a Chalet thread. FWC, Hallmark, Phoenix units.

[ZooMad75]

Campers for K5 Blazers are a unique setup. It seems as if not much is known of these special units as they often get overshadowed by GM’s factory Blazer Campers known as the Chalet (Chevy) or Casa Grande (GMC).

FWC Blazer camper in front, Chalet in the back:

In fact, the Four Wheel Pop Up Blazer camper came out a full five years prior to the introduction of the Chalet/Casa Grande’s and was offered up to 10 years later than the last Chalet was built.

Pre-Chalet:

Post-Chalet:

While the Chalet/Casa Grande campers have the claim to fame as the “factory” camper, the campers were actually produced by Chinook and not GM. The factory campers are the most well known and documented due to the short two year production run.
Chalet Example:

While the Four Wheel Camper version held the title for the most produced version, there were other Blazer campers produced by other companies like Hallmark and Phoenix. Though the quantities of those pale to the amount produced by FWC. I’ll get into the other brands later as they offer slightly different features to the FWC camper.

Let’s dive into the history, which is to know the history of FWC itself. FWC started back in 1972 in Denver Colorado. (note the address on the sticker, it's within a mile of @Capt Ron 's place) The first offerings were for the Blazer, Scout and Bronco trucks. All three of those trucks had full removable roofs, which depending on which truck you had meant you had to use the underside of the camper as the roof of the truck. Early Bronco example:

Full size Bronco. Note the camper sticks out past the body where a Blazer is flush to the tail lights. This is due to the slope of the body at the cab not allowing the camper to butt up to the cab like the Blazer camper can. There is an added on section to allow the camper to seal to the curves at the back of the cab.

Scout Campers:

The DED Scout-house:

Most early Bronco and Scouts just used wood to create a surface for the window or door frame to seal up too. Some of the first-gen Blazers and Jimmys as well as full top ’73-’75 Blazer/Jimmys equipped with an FWC camper had the same treatment to only use wood to frame up a sealing surface for the door glass.

First Gen K5 with no factory top section:

First Gen K5 with factory top section:

Second-gen K5 with factory top section:

Second-gen K5 with no factory top section:

You can see how poorly the full convertible versions seal by watching Dirt Every Day as they took a Scout/FWC on an adventure and hit rain. Needless to say the connection between the cab and camper leaked like mad.
DED scout video

Others ended up cutting the front half of a factory fiberglass top to enclose the cab of the truck and sealed it to the front wall of the camper. The factory top section sealed to the windows and header better which led to less leaks of both water and air.


From that cab wall to the rear most of the FWC campers were the same. With a bench seat along the passenger side wall and cabinet along the driver side. That cabinet is where the 5 gallon freshwater tank was stored, 3 way RV refrigerator, forced air furnace, sink in the counter surface up top and two burner RV stovetop.
Cabinet side:

 

[ZooMad75]

Bench side:

There was some small storage in the area between the refrigerator and water tank and below the cabinet. One of the unique features of the Blazer Camper is the fact that the interior of the camper is open to the front cab area of the Blazer itself. One can crawl from the front seat into the camper and vise versa.

Interior with the top down:

Top up:

This feature drives another unique point that differs from standard slide in campers. That feature is that the camper itself has no floor connected to it. In a standard FWC campers they call that section the “floor pack” and is usually constructed out of wood and attached to the bottom of the camper that sits on the top of the bed rail. The Bronco and Scout versions were the same in this quality too.

The FWC camper attaches to the truck differently than “normal” slide in campers with internal or external turnbuckles to the frame or bed. The normal method for a Blazer camper is to bolt onto the top of the bed rails just like the factory fiberglass top attaches to the body. One notable item I’ve discovered during the install process of my FWC camper is the surprising lack of fasteners to the back of the cab on half top (’76 and later) Blazer/Jimmy units. Most are sealed to the back of the cab with foam camper tape, which also leaves the factory channel in the back of the roof where the stock top weather-strip goes and allows any water trapped in the channel to be routed right to the bed rail and possible holes in the rail that would lead to water getting into the interior.

Without the factory top section filling the gap:

With a factory top section in place:

It’s a poor way to seal and the lack of fasteners in that cab wall can allow the camper itself to lift slightly when the truck is at highway speeds or greater. I know I felt mine move when I brought it home. Out of my photos found on the internet, I’ve only found a couple that actually had bolts installed and only one of them with but still had the exposed channel. Mine got a chunk of fiberglass cut off of 2nd Blazer top to fill the gap and allow for factory-like sealing to the camper. It certainly improved the sealing and retention of the camper at highway speed.



Getting back into the interior, back in the day when you could order one there were a limited number of options you could get. Heater, sink/water storage, along with the couch that also folded out to make a bed. In the event you can see one but can’t see inside you can it has some of those options just by looking at the outside of the camper.



Propane storage in the back corner, fridge vents upfront. Also seen in the middle-lower section is a 110v hookup and sink drain.

Unit with no fridge option, no front vents. It could have an “icebox” which looks like a fridge from the inside, but you would use a block of ice to cool your food.

The easiest item to pick out is the double set of screwed-on vent grilles for the refrigerator. Until the mid to late ’80s those vents would be right behind the driver seat. Those vents were for a 3-way refrigerator since it could be burning propane if it wasn’t in 12v or 110v modes. The bottom vent lifts out to allow the ability to start the pilot light again. A freshwater fill port on the exterior back wall will signal the fact that the truck does indeed have a freshwater tank. The last item that you can see from the outside is an exhaust vent in the back wall for the propane heater. Near the end of the production run, the factory cabinet got changed up slightly with the propane box and refrigerator swapping positions.

Late version with swapped fridge and propane storage positions.

Most had a sheet of plywood on the floor with cutouts for the wheel tubs. This allowed one to either install laminate flooring or carpeting. The simple bench seat was then screwed down to the floor with “L” brackets. Part of the lower cabinet (below the bedrail) also got attached to the floor with more “L” brackets. Some were optioned with a standard RV style round mount on the floor for a post and table. Given the era, there weren’t any other options to add like they do now.

You can see the “L” brackets on the front part of the cabinet, carpet over plywood.

Interior without plywood/carpet with table mount:

Age isn’t easy to pinpoint unless the camper still has the tag riveted to the exterior back wall.

However, there are clues to get close. Early units (pre-’78) seem to have used different roof latches. Very similar to what you would find on a metal toolbox lid, but with no adjustability.

FWC made a change to the style they still use now which are larger and the latches are adjustable. Another obvious visual cue is the type of windows used on the camper itself. Most of the FWC units built prior to the mid ‘80’s had square corner aluminum framed windows. Even the door used a square corner window. *note this is the only one I’ve found that had windows on both sides of the camper with no cabinet, no propane or heater. But it’s a good example of the window style.

The last couple of years of production had FWC using more modern round corner windows like most RV’s most have seen. The last big visual cue is the length of the cab over section. Only the last couple of years used a cab over section that just barely reached to the area right above the top of the windshield.

This example is supposedly the “last” FWC Blazer camper built on an ’87 K5. Note the round corner windows. (note all the camping gear attached to the camper itself. All of it showed up at the last time it was up for sale)

The difference is big as the earlier versions had a cab over section that extended 6-8 inches beyond the top of the windshield. You’ll typically find the round corner windows and short overhang on only the latest ones. Another visual cue to really early campers is the aluminum paneling on the outside. I’ve found a couple of early campers with diamond pattern bead rolling in the aluminum. Later versions all had the same stuff with some having contrasting stripes on the side.

Now it’s time to take a little dive into the other campers by the seldom-seen versions. Hallmark really added more space than the FWC versions by both the size and cab over bed. Plus the roof lifting mechanism is far superior to the FWC folding panels. The Hallmark extends outback 6-8 inches beyond the body. That extra space really helps but is not as extended out as a Chalet.

Hallmark examples:

The Hallmark really has the best layout of the interior of any of them in my opinion. Instead of having a single bench along one side, it has a forward dinette setup with seats on each side right behind the front seats. This allows for windows on both sides of the camper too. The cabinet is split up and put into sections in the back corners of the camper to allow for the forward dinette. They still have the same kind of amenities as an FWC with a two-burner stove, water/sink, and RV-style refrigerator. I like this style as it splits up the cabinet where all the gear goes vs stacking it all up on one side. More windows help make the space “feel” bigger and better ventilation when in camp mode.

 

[ZooMad75]

Hallmark interior examples:

Phoenix Campers have built Blazer campers also. It’s not a surprise since the company owner’s Dad started out at FWC in the early 70’s. Early Phoenix campers started out with wood framing, but later went to an aluminum framework just like the FWC units.

Phoenix examples it looks like they sold two different lengths:

Shorter version from Phoenix's website:

There were not many made but were pretty similar to the others offered. Phoenix has built campers for the last full-size Bronco platform, most recently building one in full Denver Bronco’s livery for tailgating, but also promoting their brand. According to their website, they are getting interested in building a Blazer camper again. They are known for being more flexible in creating unique one-off campers as opposed to FWC, Hallmark, ATC, or others that are building-specific models with no offering for custom units. An example of the custom capabilities would be Larry Wittman’s custom Phoenix Camper for his K10. His needs were for it to fit within the pickup box of the truck and allow the gate to still be useful and shut. He also wanted the sides to be flush to the sides of the bed for better trail clearance and not to need extended mirrors to see around the camper. The other option he wanted was the front of the camper to have the more classic (FWC like) rounded front corners of the cab-over section vs the Phoenix Pulse style front cap on the cab over. They were able to accommodate all his requests perfectly. If you want a “new” camper for a Blazer, these would be the folks to talk to.



Between messages from folks on CK5 and Instagram, I get a lot of questions over these campers. Most commonly, the question is where to look for one. Next up is cost or value.



The where to look is tied to the original location of the FWC camper. They all came out of Denver Colorado. Back in the 1970s and ’80s these manufacturers were much smaller and lacked the nationwide dealer network that they have now. So lacking a large distribution network all were sold out of the factory. Most stayed in the west, Colorado most often. Some went further to Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico. In my searching online, the majority I have found were in Colorado. I’ve found them as far as California and Washington to the west and only one east of the Mississippi River in Tennessee. So if you are looking for one, start in Colorado and search out from there.



Cost and value is a hot issue. Those that want one don’t want to spend a fortune to get one and those that do have one think they are worth a fortune. I get the question “what can I sell it for?” more often than “is this a good price?”. This issue is where the confusion with the Chalet Campers gets even greater. Chalets being more well known and having a known small quantity of production vs the millions of squarebody trucks over the ’73-’91 run it’s an obvious collector's item. Add a few high-profile auctions fetching insane money recently (April 2021) and everybody that has one even in horrible condition thinks they are worth more than average. Enter the Chalet/FWC camper confusion. It’s common to have an FWC identified as a Chalet or “factory” installed camper. So if a Chalet is worth a ton of money, it stands to reason that any Blazer camper should be. I’ve seen many ads online where sellers were swinging for the fences with the price of Blazer/FWC camper combos. One even referenced a Mecum auction for a First-gen K5 (without a camper) and the statement was made that if that one went for this amount this one should be worth a similar amount.



The simple point is they are worth what somebody is willing to pay. In the case of first-gen K5’s with campers on them, First gens (without the camper) are white-hot right now and most that want one don’t want the camper attached to it. They are typically worth more without the camper in this market. So to a seller, they have the price pushed up so high the typical guy that wants the camper isn’t willing to pay the premium for the first-gen K5. The seller would have better luck splitting the pair and selling separately. The full convertible second-gen (’73-’75) fall into the same category as the first gens due to the popularity they have.



On the other side of the spectrum are the Blazer/campers where the Blazer itself is rough and rusty and the camper is rough but useable. The seller could still be asking for a high price for the combo, but really the Blazer may be too rough to deal with. Again, it’s a situation where the seller would gain more by splitting the combo as the camper may be the higher value item. If you are looking for a camper and have already built a Blazer to fit it too, you may not want to take on the rusty Blazer with the camper.



Now, all that and I still didn’t say what they are worth. The reason being is it depends on the condition like anything else. The better condition, the higher the value. I bought mine for $300. It was in need of repairs to make it useable. My buddy picked one up for 10 times the price of mine a few years later and it needed a similar amount of work. Prices are climbing for sure. One that needs work could be worth more or less than the $3,000 my buddy paid for his. Condition really dictates the price and if the seller is willing to split the camper from the Blazer.
This is where my camper came from:

This is my buddy Ian's camper @Capt Ron found earlier this year. So far it's required the exact same amount of work to refurbish as mine has. Should he have paid $3000 for it versus my $300? Ideally, the answer is no, but the market is very hot for these campers right now. We missed on two others that came up for sale prior to this one.
(capt ron's '77 K5 camper photobombing in the background)

Beware of the Flip artist. One example was a unit that came up on Craigslist in WY, a true barn find. It was a total disgusting mouse house and wouldn’t you know it a couple months later it ended up at a Mecum auction in Las Vegas where it had been cleaned up massively and sold for some serious money. ($11k IIRC)

From the original Craigslist ad out of Wyoming:

From the Mecum ad:

Here’s some of the other CK5’ers that have drunk the koolaid and got a K5 Camper of their own:



@Capt Ron with his ’77 FWC on one tons, L29 Big Block and NV4500 5-speed

Just had to do it

I blame all of the pics from BB17 and the fact that I did not have a K5, I went and bought this today.

ck5.com

@America.Mike with his scratch built FWC clone he’s building.

84 cucv m1009 “ The Camper Crawler”

America.Mike submitted a new Build: America Mikes 12v cucv build I figured I should start a build thread here. It’s a 1984 m1009. The truck was a pile of junk when purchased. It needed new bedsides, floors, rockers and lower b pillars. The windshield area was toast and so was alot of...

ck5.com

@metalneverdies LS swapped K5 with a great story going after the camper.

https://ck5.com/forums/threads/81-fwc-87-k5.341110/



@0332king

https://ck5.com/forums/threads/expe...-up-and-a-2nd-project-colonel-mustard.340531/

@atl-atl He's since sold his and last I seen it was for sale at a Jeep dealer in Nashville TN. Hard to miss back there but it was a very clean, original example with some smart upgrades installed prior to sale.



I’ll keep a lookout on any other CK5’ers that end up with one of these special campers. Any that I find for sale I’ll update here as well. If any of you see one of these for sale that I miss, please post it up so I can keep track of them.

 

[Lolz_cats]

Excellent compilation!

 

[flatland]

Very nice summary.
I hope to soon be "through" with work on the k5 so I can begin to look for or build a camper for it. I have read your posts and Larry's as well as multiple build threads . They have been really helpful at defining what I want and how to build it.

Hopefully my K5 will get to live in your part of the world one day as we are building a cabin in the Fort Garland area.
Thanks for the time you spent to put this together.

 

[ZooMad75]

Excellent compilation!

Very nice summary.
I hope to soon be "through" with work on the k5 so I can begin to look for or build a camper for it. I have read your posts and Larry's as well as multiple build threads . They have been really helpful at defining what I want and how to build it.

Hopefully my K5 will get to live in your part of the world one day as we are building a cabin in the Fort Garland area.
Thanks for the time you spent to put this together.

Thanks guys. I've been saving pics I've found on my searches for Blazer Campers and felt I could share with CK5 what I've found.

I've got a couple hundred or so photos I've snagged off of Craigslist, FB Marketplace and other online sale sites. Through those sites FB groups and Instagram I've come to find out some campers that have been destroyed.

This one was for sale out of the Denver area via Craigslist. Got listed a couple of times last year. Then earlier this year through Instagram I got contacted by a guy that bought the rig out of Southern California. We were discussing what to look at and what to repair while he was waiting for it to show up. Then I got the message that the transporter had a problem on the way and the camper was shredded.

The transport driver had given the guy some BS story that they got hit with a gust of wind while on the highway and the camper was blown off the Blazer. Plausible, but I can attest to having mine up to 90mph at times and while not ideal, the truck and camper were stable. But the camper in question did have a sagging cab-over section and the camper itself was not bolted to the cab. If there was any way air got between the camper and the cab it could have happened. Once air got inside without any place to go, the only fasteners holding the camper framework to the sideboards that bolt to the bed rails are 1" long staples. I think the camper was sitting on a slant with the nose high like most hotshot transport trailers is set up. That would have the cab-over section catching the air moving over the truck at speed like a sail. Keep that in mind if you find one and are having it transported to your place.


This next one I found the pic online a couple of years back on a google search, but the truck showed up in a K5 Blazer FB group a couple of months back.

In typical FB fashion, the guy that owned the truck was posting how to remove the camper because he didn't want it. He did zero research to find out what it was or if it was worth anything. I found the discussion and joined in a day too late because the clown came back to say he just yanked it off and ended up breaking it in the process and scrapped it.

 

[ZooMad75]

Here's a collection of First-gen K5's I've found around the net.

This one is unique as it's one of two I have found that kept the tailgate. This one does not have a section of the factory top up front, so they were able to slide the camper forward enough to keep the gate in place.

Another one with the tailgate attached:

Orange K5 from Colorado:

Another Colorado first gen:

I've found a couple with snow plows attached:

One getting refurbished:

Older photo, note the spare on the roof. (not recommended for sure)

One out getting used like intended. Note the Hickey drop center hood!

Yet another from Colorado:

 

[Capt Ron]

1978 Ford Bronco with 4 Wheel pop up camper good condition - cars &...

1978 Ford Bronco manual 4 speed with 4 wheel drive, has a 4 wheel pop up camper on it in good condition, Great for camping! Only selling because we just had a baby and don’t have enough parking...

rockies.craigslist.org

 

[ZooMad75]

1978 Ford Bronco with 4 Wheel pop up camper good condition - cars &...

1978 Ford Bronco manual 4 speed with 4 wheel drive, has a 4 wheel pop up camper on it in good condition, Great for camping! Only selling because we just had a baby and don’t have enough parking...

rockies.craigslist.org

I saw that the other day. There's a newer Bronco on right now with a Hallmark camper on it too. Guy wants $15k for it. I thought the Blazer camper market was nuts.

 

[Wes Harden]

That is a more desirable Bronco than an OJ Bronco, thou those to are bringing big money

 

[ZooMad75]

That is a more desirable Bronco than an OJ Bronco, thou those to are bringing big money

In my searches I come across 1 bronco camper for every 8-10 Blazer campers I find. They are harder to come home by. So when added to a desirable truck the price goes up.

 

[TJ1978]

I can smell these pictures...

 

[ZooMad75]

The OJ Bronco/Hallmark Camper

1993 Ford Bronco and 1992 Hallmark Camper - general for sale - by...

1993 Ford Bronco Custom and 1992 Hallmark Bronco Camper. This bronco is a 5.0 L, EFI with automatic transmission with approximately 175,000+ miles. It is pretty much manual everything; windows, door...

denver.craigslist.org

 

[Desert_K5]

I'd love to have one of these setups.

 

[ZooMad75]

Here's some '73-'75 Campers.

The majesty of "arnold", I had it marked as a '75 with a Hallmark, but upon further review, I realized it's actually a Phoenix camper.

Full vert FWC:

Orange full vert, no top section. Bonus Hickey sidewinder winch up front:

Another tan full vert:

Another shot of the Blazer in the lead photo with the Chalet behind it.

 

[Moody Bricker]

Thanks,,very good Wright up

 

[ZooMad75]

Thanks,,very good Wright up

Happy to share. Thank you.

 

[ZooMad75]

Here are some examples of the '76-'91 variety.

This one came up on craigslist a couple of times out of Longmont CO, the guy that bought it roadkilled it back to his home in Texas. Made it there without any issue. If I remember right he's got a 454 to toss in and replace the anemic small block.

An interesting way to mount KC lights on this one.

One put out to pasture. I've seen this one come up a couple of times. Each time it's moved a little further out of the jungle. If anybody happens to pick one up in similar condition, you are in for a full rebuild for sure. The fact that the cab-over section has paint falling off is due to a roof leak. The roof vent is probably wasted or cracked, screws that hold the roof skin to the framework can be loose and leaking, the seam at the edge between the canvas top and trim is not sealed up or all of the above. Expect to have to replace all the particleboard structure, cabinet, bench, and start over.

A much cleaner example.

This one came up for sale a couple of times on Craigslist out of Las Vegas a couple of years back.

Another Craigslist ad from Colorado, I think from the Durango area.

Here's a great example of how one can be done. It was on Craigslist out of Oklahoma. Very slick rear bumper with step, trimmed rear corners, and fuel storage.

Another Colorado truck.

One from Washington.

Here's one that's popped up on multiple craigslist posts in Denver, Phoenix, and San Diego. It has a 12v Cummins/nv4500 5-speed swap.

Pretty clean Cummins swap.

Kind of shocked they didn't upgrade the 10bolt axles though.

 

[ZooMad75]

Here's a different perspective when seeing these units come up multiple times on craigslist with some time passing by. This '88 is a good example. The first pics show that somebody really put some effort into it. Fresh paint on the Blazer and matching paint on the camper.

Notice the for sale sign in the window..

It's got an A/C unit where the back window would normally be also.

Now sometime later, the paint is bleached out and new damage is seen on the driver's front corner.

Giving credit where credit is due, this is the truck that I had first seen using a section of the factory Blazer top to join the camper to the back of the cab.

It's a shame seeing it devolve like this.

I was contacted by a guy who was going to go after this truck and it fell through.

 

[ZooMad75]

This next one is interesting as it's been touted on different for-sale listings as the "last" FWC Blazer camper. I don't have any way to prove or disprove the claim. I haven't seen another one with more of the newer features on it. It's possible the claim is true. What's interesting is how it's evolved.

Here's a really early pic of the truck. It's a '85 K5. Notice the only accessory seen is a fly rod case on the roof. Not seen is a kayak rack on the roof and fishing rod holders on the front bumper.

It has a reconfigured interior with the fridge in the back and stove closer to the front. With the shorter cab over section, like other FWC campers there is a way to expand the upper bed by sliding out a section and adding cushions. Also there are leather buckets from an '05 Tahoe installed and the center console deleted to aid moving from one end of the truck to the other.

Here's where it gets nutty. When it came up for sale the most recent time it had 1000 pounds of pure overland crap tacked onto the poor truck. So lets count up what has been added. Mattrax boards, road shower, shovel, LED lights on the hood, hitch rack with BBQ grill. The fly rod holder is still there and the bushwhacker flares are probably the only tasteful change.

Ok here's more tacked on from another view. The hitch rack is more visible with an added diamond plate locker, jerry cans, Rifle case, hi-lift jack, and a 270° awning. The clear taillight lenses are a nice touch too.

Moving to the front and you can see a large LED light bar on the leading edge of the camper, the hood LED's, round LED's on the bottom of the bumper in harm's way, and a bike rack hanging on the front mount spare tire.

The huge awning is impressive though. That's a lot of shade.

When this came up for sale last year the asking price was well over $30k. Is it worth it? Did it actually sell for it? Don't know. The accessories are a bit overkill for me. I know I carry a lot of stuff, but I don't need that much for a week out in the desert. Plus you'd knock half that stuff off if you actually wheeled it on even minor technical terrain.