seavandal
Found some matches.
I was garage saling in Pasadena CA on Saturday, and came across a huge garage sale that was being held by an older hoarder/picker Latino guy. Lots of vintage and antique stuff as well as a whole lot of amazing stuff. The NOS whitewall tires perfect for my vintage trailer were the first things I spotted and wanted to buy. Asking $30 for the pair, I knew I was in for droppin' some dollars at this sale. Bundle time.
Tucked behind a plant back quite a ways was a green Kamado shaped object. I worked my way back to find that it indeed was a Kamado. It had its original ceramic top, sat on an original trolley, and looked incredibly clean. I opened up the top and found the metal Kamado vent top. Clean.
The 18" grill was in perfect shape. No rust! The fire box and ring were intact with a nice light layer of greasy soot. It looked used but certainly not abused. The ceramic fire grate in the bottom was cracked in half.
The thing that I couldn't quite fathom, was the shape of the body. It was faceted unlike all the others I have seen. It also was conical being small at the bottom and big at the top. And Green!
Woof. I had to have it. What? $300? Long and the short of it, I bargained it down to $120 for the tires and the Kamado. I bought some other items as well, packed it all up and split.
I got home and had to know more about this Kamado. Modern Imperial Kamado is what I have found it to be. I found only a couple of examples on the net. They seemed to be pretty beat and were restored beautifully. One guy down under had one from his parents that needed repair but apparently didn't get restored (Works original...Yeah!). There was a thread somewhere that dated these Imperial Kamados between 1974 and 1986. Pachinko palace was the place to buy them among other outlets. I am amazed that these are so "new". I guess that's why they call them "modern".
I found time to clean this IK up today. Simple green for the body and 0000 steel wool and chrome polish for the trolley. Scraping and wire brushing out the box and vacuuming started the process. I used high pressure hose spray to clean and flush out the hidden ash and "stuff" in between the box and the pot. I poured the water out and left it to dry out today in the 90 degree weather today. I plan on leaving it out and open for a week to let it completely dry out.
It is done. One easy job. The fire box has hairline cracks in it but the mortar fixing it to the pot is tight and unbroken. Someone said to not even breathe on the box if it is together. I am taking his advice! I have ordered a new gasket for it. It's the 1" felt looking high heat stuff.
There are two items that i found interesting on this Kamado. First, there are metal covers for the band nut and bolts to hide them. Nice feature! The other item is a small round metal loop attached to the trolley. I am assuming that it is used for strapping the Kamado to the trolley for stability?
In any event, I am stoked to have found another Kamado! My wife thinks I am crazy for collecting these cookers ( 1 Sazco Sultan, 3 Sazco Genies, 1 Kamado Imperial Medium, 1 Kamado Imperial Large, 2 Vintage Webers, 2 Propane Weber gas grills, 8 Hibachis.... but, who's counting?). I now have green in my collection of cookers. Chris
Here are some pictures of the new Imperial Kamado Modern:
Tucked behind a plant back quite a ways was a green Kamado shaped object. I worked my way back to find that it indeed was a Kamado. It had its original ceramic top, sat on an original trolley, and looked incredibly clean. I opened up the top and found the metal Kamado vent top. Clean.
The 18" grill was in perfect shape. No rust! The fire box and ring were intact with a nice light layer of greasy soot. It looked used but certainly not abused. The ceramic fire grate in the bottom was cracked in half.
The thing that I couldn't quite fathom, was the shape of the body. It was faceted unlike all the others I have seen. It also was conical being small at the bottom and big at the top. And Green!
Woof. I had to have it. What? $300? Long and the short of it, I bargained it down to $120 for the tires and the Kamado. I bought some other items as well, packed it all up and split.
I got home and had to know more about this Kamado. Modern Imperial Kamado is what I have found it to be. I found only a couple of examples on the net. They seemed to be pretty beat and were restored beautifully. One guy down under had one from his parents that needed repair but apparently didn't get restored (Works original...Yeah!). There was a thread somewhere that dated these Imperial Kamados between 1974 and 1986. Pachinko palace was the place to buy them among other outlets. I am amazed that these are so "new". I guess that's why they call them "modern".
I found time to clean this IK up today. Simple green for the body and 0000 steel wool and chrome polish for the trolley. Scraping and wire brushing out the box and vacuuming started the process. I used high pressure hose spray to clean and flush out the hidden ash and "stuff" in between the box and the pot. I poured the water out and left it to dry out today in the 90 degree weather today. I plan on leaving it out and open for a week to let it completely dry out.
It is done. One easy job. The fire box has hairline cracks in it but the mortar fixing it to the pot is tight and unbroken. Someone said to not even breathe on the box if it is together. I am taking his advice! I have ordered a new gasket for it. It's the 1" felt looking high heat stuff.
There are two items that i found interesting on this Kamado. First, there are metal covers for the band nut and bolts to hide them. Nice feature! The other item is a small round metal loop attached to the trolley. I am assuming that it is used for strapping the Kamado to the trolley for stability?
In any event, I am stoked to have found another Kamado! My wife thinks I am crazy for collecting these cookers ( 1 Sazco Sultan, 3 Sazco Genies, 1 Kamado Imperial Medium, 1 Kamado Imperial Large, 2 Vintage Webers, 2 Propane Weber gas grills, 8 Hibachis.... but, who's counting?). I now have green in my collection of cookers. Chris
Here are some pictures of the new Imperial Kamado Modern:
