Chezmatt
Full Fledged Farker
I was perusing CL earlier this week, and saw a guy offering two Weber kettles AND two smokey joes for $50... for all four! Looking at the picture, I was shocked to see that one of the smokey joes was red. Could it be? Could this guy be selling the rarely seen and much rumored red smokey joe?
I quickly shot him an e-mail offering him $40 for the red SJ alone. (I don't have room for the rest.) We quickly reached a deal, and I had a friend pick it up for me. (The seller and my friend are in San Jose, about 40 miles away.) When my friend met the seller, he said that $40 was too much, and would only take $20. A steal!
Today, my new red super score arrived. It's was pretty dirty, and had seen some heavy use. I started to clean her up, and here she is:
Note the "M" date code from 1990:
But then, I was noticing that the surface felt a little rough, and not glassy like your typical Weber. I also saw some chipping, and what looked like heat damage:
Using my world-renowned deductive reasoning, I started to suspect that this might not be a factory original paint job. I did some research over at the Weber Kettle Club. (Side note: Those guys REALLY like Webers.) From what I found there, it looks like red SJs were either (1) made in the 1970s or (2) emblazoned with a Budweiser logo. Clearly, neither of these conditions pertains to my new acquisition. So, I'm now pretty sure that I just bought a good old black smokey joe (with a wood handle, at least) that somebody spray-painted red.
Ah well. I guess I'll use it to make a 49ers mini-wsm, to go along with my World Champion San Francisco Giants Orange and Black Mini-WSM(TM). There are worse ways to spend $20.
I quickly shot him an e-mail offering him $40 for the red SJ alone. (I don't have room for the rest.) We quickly reached a deal, and I had a friend pick it up for me. (The seller and my friend are in San Jose, about 40 miles away.) When my friend met the seller, he said that $40 was too much, and would only take $20. A steal!
Today, my new red super score arrived. It's was pretty dirty, and had seen some heavy use. I started to clean her up, and here she is:
Note the "M" date code from 1990:
But then, I was noticing that the surface felt a little rough, and not glassy like your typical Weber. I also saw some chipping, and what looked like heat damage:
Using my world-renowned deductive reasoning, I started to suspect that this might not be a factory original paint job. I did some research over at the Weber Kettle Club. (Side note: Those guys REALLY like Webers.) From what I found there, it looks like red SJs were either (1) made in the 1970s or (2) emblazoned with a Budweiser logo. Clearly, neither of these conditions pertains to my new acquisition. So, I'm now pretty sure that I just bought a good old black smokey joe (with a wood handle, at least) that somebody spray-painted red.
Ah well. I guess I'll use it to make a 49ers mini-wsm, to go along with my World Champion San Francisco Giants Orange and Black Mini-WSM(TM). There are worse ways to spend $20.
