Happy Cooker Grill

Nice, bro! Congrats on a great score!

I had a Happy Cooker for 25 years, and it was a great grill. Does your charcoal grate adjust up and down? Congrats.

Congrats, nice pr0n! :thumb:

Looks good!

Instead of legs, mine had a pedestal that the kettle sat on. In the middle of the pedestal was a bar that the ash pan sat on inside of the kettle.
There were notched in the pedestal that were used to raise and lower the grate. It allowed you to raise the grates to sear, then lower them to finish cooking. You could use the whole grate to cook instead of going indirect after searing.

I had a Happy Cooker back when I was first married - almost 28 years ago. It was used when I got it, I don't really know how old it was. I cooked a lot of good stuff on it, and I don't really remember why I got rid of it. I think it was probably when I "upgraded" to a gas grill. Oh, if I knew then what I know now. Sigh....

I've just found this forum when I decided to try and see if the company was still in business. I've had my Happy Cooker for 30 years and it's still in use! I picked it up at Home Depot- it was on clearance and was the last one. The only other time I've seen one anywhere - not in a store or at someone's house - was on the back of someone's pickup who was moving. The adjustable charcoal grate is the best thing for BBQ'ing and has allowed me to serve countless perfectly cooked meals over the years. I'm surprised that Weber has never copied it. I'm thinking that it would be very funny to use it as my urn when I'm cremated, except that if it was still working, I'd like to pass it on to my sons! Happy grilling!