Shirley Fab rehab

[sudsandswine]

I recently picked up a new to me Shirley Fab trailer smoker from fellow brethren grill ‘em all. It’s sat for a bit and has some surface rust in and out but has good bones, so I thought I’d purdy her up.

I found a local place that is going to sandblast the entire trailer inside and out for a very reasonable price, and just dropped it off this morning. I hope to have it back in a week or so and then will enlist my brother to paint it. Other items on the list are 5” glow in the dark Tel-Tru thermometers, which I received last week. I’m going to re-pack the trailer axle bearings with grease, and then put new wheels and tires on it. The cook chamber is a 250 gallon propane tank, and I think the design looks a little more “old school” than some of the other Shirley designs with the flat back and cabinets doors and what not. So I think I’m going with vintage looking trailer wheels…red, with a chrome hub cap, and white wall tires…something like this:

A few “before” pictures:













I’m looking forward to my first cook on it…hopefully sometime in the next month or so. Dimensionally, the trailer is bigger than my old flat back cabinet door model Shirley, and even though this doesn’t have an insulated firebox, the trailer feels pretty heavy and stout. It tows great though.

 

[tom b]

following...

 

[Inthewoods]

Same!
Since ya shared yer space, let's talk about the offset in those irons..

-D

 

[sudsandswine]

Same!
Since ya shared yer space, let's talk about the offset in those irons..

-D

I don’t golf, those are the clubs of the nice fella that let me stash this in his garage for a bit…all sort of happened unexpectedly and mine needed to be evacuated of some unnecessary things before I could get it in :thumb:

Hitting golf balls rather poorly at the driving range is about the extent of my “golfing” :becky:

 

[okiej]

Thats gonna be a Purdy rig :-D

 

[WilliamKY]

Some chrome baby moon hubcaps would look sweet with those wheels.

 

[BBQ Freak]

nice score and i would sandblast the inside and trailer and do a little scuffing on the outside of the pit and Linseed oil it and give it the old school rat rod look and the patina would look awesome . Anyway following to see how it comes out and I know you go all out like me , lol .

 

[Robert]

Cool purchase. That must be one of their earliest pits. Have you bought the white walls yet? They are kind of hard to come by right now due to supply chain issues. But I do like the concept and think it will look really good.


Robert

 

[PatAttack]

That's gonna look sweet!

 

[Big George's BBQ]

op2:
This is going to be good

 

[sudsandswine]

Cool purchase. That must be one of their earliest pits. Have you bought the white walls yet? They are kind of hard to come by right now due to supply chain issues. But I do like the concept and think it will look really good.


Robert

Summit Racing has Coker brand tires in stock so I ordered the tires there, but yeah most other places did not have 15” ones in stock. The original owner said he got the cooler from Shirley Fabrication about 10 years ago, so it is indeed one of the earlier cookers.

nice score and i would sandblast the inside and trailer and do a little scuffing on the outside of the pit and Linseed oil it and give it the old school rat rod look and the patina would look awesome . Anyway following to see how it comes out and I know you go all out like me , lol .

I thought about doing something like that, parts of it do currently have a nice “weathered” look and it would be a nice play on the “vintage” theme. My concern with that would be the level of upkeep and maintenance required, and I’m not sure the trailer itself would ever get hot enough to set the finish.

 

[Beentown]

About to have mine redone also. What was the charge for the blasting if you don't mind giving the info? I just sent photos of mine for a quote. Wanna see how it lines up. I just need the exterior.

I recently picked up a new to me Shirley Fab trailer smoker from fellow brethren grill ‘em all. It’s sat for a bit and has some surface rust in and out but has good bones, so I thought I’d purdy her up.

I found a local place that is going to sandblast the entire trailer inside and out for a very reasonable price, and just dropped it off this morning. I hope to have it back in a week or so and then will enlist my brother to paint it. Other items on the list are 5” glow in the dark Tel-Tru thermometers, which I received last week. I’m going to re-pack the trailer axle bearings with grease, and then put new wheels and tires on it. The cook chamber is a 250 gallon propane tank, and I think the design looks a little more “old school” than some of the other Shirley designs with the flat back and cabinets doors and what not. So I think I’m going with vintage looking trailer wheels…red, with a chrome hub cap, and white wall tires…something like this:

A few “before” pictures:













I’m looking forward to my first cook on it…hopefully sometime in the next month or so. Dimensionally, the trailer is bigger than my old flat back cabinet door model Shirley, and even though this doesn’t have an insulated firebox, the trailer feels pretty heavy and stout. It tows great though.

 

[blackdogbbq21]

Looks like that pit found a good home. Looking forward to seeing the progress

 

[bbqwizard]

That will be a fun project. I bet it'll be good as new in no time.

 

[tom b]

she is a little rougher than I remember from his sale ad, looking forward to progress

 

[SonVolt]

Somebody needs to call child services. That's some serious neglect.

 

[sudsandswine]

Somebody needs to call child services. That's some serious neglect.

Nothing some sand can't fix....we did a video walkaround before I drove down there so I knew what I was getting into, it's all good :thumb:

 

[Jmgunn]

Was wondering if we’d see it again! Especially when I found out it was coming to kc. Awesome!

 

[SmoothBoarBBQ]

Nothing some sand can't fix....we did a video walkaround before I drove down there so I knew what I was getting into, it's all good :thumb:

Good stuff and I'm looking forward to seeing the smoker after it has been refurbished (if you're so inclined). It's a pleasure to see the Brethren taking care of each other, and this was a massive score for someone willing to put in some elbow grease.

 

[jzadski]

Looks like you found something to do with your spare time. Should be some good food coming off of that in the near future