“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. Ain’t that the truth? I frequently search Craiglsist in search of bbq items especially old model Weber’s. There is a whole group of people that collect vintage Weber kettle barbecues. In fact I am a card carrying member of the Weber Kettle Club. (W.K.C.). They have a great web site that has everything you could ever imagine about the Weber kettle bbq. There are discussion forums, sales and trades, and even information how to date your classic/vintage bbq. To begin our story I would like to share my latest Craigslist find. It is a beautiful “Red Head”, “Backward Crooked K Model Weber’ kettle grill.
This bbq was advertised on Craiglsist by a fellow W.K.C member Jim. Jim is an avid collector and restorer of Weber barbecues. This particular model had lovingly been restored by replacing the wooden handles and installing a brand new “one touch’ vent system. He also cleaned and polished this kettle to showroom floor quality. A bright red color is affectionately called a ‘Redhead’ by the W.K.C. community. This kettle looked brand spanking new except for the fact it was twenty eight years old.
The way we can determine the age of this barbeque is a stamp in the upper kettle lid vent. Every year the vent is stamped with a new letter and or number combination. This particular model has a ‘K” that is backwards and crooked. This backward K is rare because it basically is a mistake caused by possible carelessness, rebellion?, and most likely stamp operator error.
The backward crooked K is located between the
bottom two holes above "Made in USA"
3 comments:
I wish Jim would work mine over. My dad had one in the 60's that had long horn heads painted on it- a tremendous amount of meat passed through it over several years.
beautiful!
Big Dude, I have seen images of the kettle you are talking about. That would be a coveted collectors item. It is amazing how well they can be cleaned up and a lot of parts are still available for restoration.
Greg, I think so too.
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