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Somebody here is tracking Chalets...not sure if this one is accounted for?
- Thread starter Chief Brody
- Start date
Thanks!! This one is #0571, built in 8/76 and it's an updated situation for me I need - either somebody alerted me to it back in mid September or I found it on my own, and when I contacted the seller, he either had yanked the listing a day later or was in the process of doing so because the rig had fallen into some kind of inheritance dispute with his sibling. He must have sorted it out and now needs a quick sale.www.facebook.com
Nice, it was the first one I'd seen locally in like a decade. I don't understand why they're so expensive for a rusty one.
Found this site :https://gmauthority.com/blog/2019/07/the-gmc-jimmy-casa-grande-was-a-big-house-on-wheels/
Confirms your numbers of around 1800 made of both Chalet + Casa Grande
I saw a Motor Trend article that said 225 GMC's were made but did not list a source.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/1977-gmc-jimmy-casa-grande-4x4-camper-auction-mecum/
Confirms your numbers of around 1800 made of both Chalet + Casa Grande
I saw a Motor Trend article that said 225 GMC's were made but did not list a source.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/1977-gmc-jimmy-casa-grande-4x4-camper-auction-mecum/
The Casa Grande at the top of the GM Authority article was the orphaned camper unit — unless it can be proven otherwise — #0855 on a non-original '76 GMC Jimmy where a Minneapolis Craigslist seller in mid 2016 was portraying it as "a rare rust free Arizona truck," implying it was a really nice condition rig with new truck paint … problem is, what I'd seen of it two years prior in a Crosslake, MN series of Craigslist ads was that the Jimmy was a really rusted heap. However, the originality / collector value of that rig became irrelevant when the 2016 buyer modded it a bunch, including installing solar panels on the roof and upgrading the interior items. Then he sold the camper unit and kept the Jimmy. The camper unit is now seen in occasional internet image search results on a newer modded Blazer where it's all painted up in white / turquoise with '80s-style swoosh stripe graphics.
The MotorTrend '77 Casa Grande is #1457, repainted the non-original factory colors, a metallic gold and much too vivid of camper stripes colors. The factory main color was a lighter pastel tan and the gelcoat on the camper units was never that glossy. When the shop repainted it back in 2019, they also put on '76 model year stainless steel trim on the truck. The graphics shop doing the vinyl consulted me on the color of the back door decal GMC logo at the time (I could only offer a guess), but that is all, and nobody told me about the truck repaint or other details, I could have headed off that value-killing color choice at the pass. It has a variety of other interior restoration faults, too. The owner who commissioned the repaint told me he redid it in that tone because the factory color combo "was so ugly." However, subsequent sellers claimed it had been repainted to factory specs, one even concocted the line that it was "Repainted to resemble the Casa Grande concept truck in 1977." I told each one of the subsequent owners about the non-original repaint, including the flipsaler guy who put it up for auction at the 2022 Florida Mecum one. He got the "225 Casa Grandes produced" figure from me, but I told him it was not corroborated. 1,780 (the unverified total from paragraph 2 of this 1979 article) minus the confirmed total by GM of 1,555 Chalets equals 225 Casa Grandes. I really feel sorry for the Mecum auction winner who bid it up to probably more than twice what it is worth, if top-end "like factory showroom new" collector value was the goal for the winner.
Many thanks for spotting this, which otherwise I might have missed! 1977 Casa Grande #1299, built in 12/76.
Optimistic seller, another in the never-ending lineage of classic car dealer flipsalers who find one of these rigs and then double the price without doing a thing to them beyond putting on new tires or something. Give this one some credit for not quite doubling the price, it was seen last at the Big Iron auction Oct 2023 at $26 grand, and 3 months previously at the Bring a Trailer auction site by the long-time owner's sons for a grand less.
Apologies for being way late on this one, a day or two after that one came up, my daily driver car decided to pull an extortion on me that week and said "if you don't fix me, you're not driving anywhere anymore" and it took up until a couple days ago to sort out. Then I had to catch up with my other backlog.
Another guy alerted me to that FB post, and additionally spotted how I had an older 2016 listing for it on my 'for sale' map. I put in a PM at FB to the guy who posted about that you show in your screengrab, and he said he'd go over to the junkyard to snag the serial number for me. But when he got there, it was gone, somebody else snapped it up that quick!
This one was posted in a private group. I'll see if I can get him to contact you.
Big_show77
Newbie
@a77blazerchalet i just picked one up today! I will get the numbers when I get back home later
Many thanks for the alert! Seems to resemble one drive-by sighting photo I found a while back, but the brown/tan '77 color combo was seemingly the most commonly painted GM one.
Many thanks for the alert! Same one as just above, or just a coincidence? I also try to add in the truck VINs to my mega-spreadsheet list along with any prior owner 'genealogy' info, in case guys who used to own these wonder where their old rigs are now.
Big_show77
Newbie
Same one as above, i got it from the second owner, may as well be the first owner since he bought it in 1978. Has sat behind a garage in the weeds from 1997 until yesterday
Excellent. I got restoration tips to share, and can knock down some of the 'urban legend' stuff that floats around on social media on these, ranging from guys guessing on production numbers and relative sales values. Best to contact me through the old blazerchalet site since emails allow the best sharing of web links, photos, etc.
http://blazerchalet.com/contact.html
* Next day edit: #1458 build in 11/76. Thanks for the pics of the VIN tag and serial number plate, look out for an email reply which has my regular email address.
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Huge thanks on that! Sent a PM to the seller to find out which Casa Grande it is. I would have missed it, and in the site-specific search I use to find Chalets and Casa Grandes, I can't even get this one to appear in search results. Seller should have put "Casa Grande" in his main lisiting title.
I just had a guy hit me up trying to sell this blazer. He's keeping the top, but figured you might like to know about it.
Interesting, it's an update on what I last knew of it dating from an Oct 2021 KSL Utah ad - the orphaned camper unit is #0312, but I can't say whether it was a Chalet or Casa Grande because the guy who had it back in 2015 had it on a rusted out truck with an aftermarket grille and was sorta sketchy about providing a GMC VIN for the truck. Tell-tale details on this one is the black roof/gray paint, combined with the paint peel on this newer white Blazer. Never heard if the rig was sold in that KSL ad.
I'm guessing that it sold, and this is a new owner. He's also in SLC, but it's parked in a yard with a TON of other classic vehicles now.
2.3K views · 10K reactions | 1977 GMC Jimmy High Camper Pickup. #mecum #mecumauctions #reels #viralreels #classiccars | 713classiccars
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