Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes

[zavod44]

So I came into possession late last year a very special grill.  It was an old, ultra rare red 18" Wood Dale.   These are very hard to find and I knew I had to fix this one up.   This grill was in one of the club members family for a ling time.  It had been used for many years and fell into disrepair and was left for dead.  Do to this site and some dedicated Weber enthusiasts it was rescued.  Now I heard it came from the dump, but I'll let that story be told by the men who rescued it.  I took possession after most of the pieces were salvaged.  I got it and it was in very bad shape.  It was a project for sure.  I wasn't sure what I was going to do but I vowed that it would stand again and it would cook again. 


Here is what it looked like when I got it.  The legs and vents were totally rusted through, there were just giant holes where the vents and  legs were once attached.   The legs were rusted off and the legs were stuck in the sockets.  The thumbscrews were fused and rusted to the sockets as well. 





I had to sort out where the legs were supposed to go.....












I was able to start scrubbing the dirt off the bowl.  The bright red color was starting to shine through.






I drilled out the rusted thumbscrews and retapped the holes with a 1/4 20 tap.






I really wanted to preserve what was there.  I didn't want to replace anything unless it was absolutely necessary.  I decided to just leave the legs in the sockets but i needed to reattach the sockets to the bowl.  The best I could do was use large washers on the outside and the inside.  That would sandwich what was left on the bowl and the legs could go back where they are suppose dot go













Once I got the legs all attached I had to do the same thing to the vents.  Again there were just giant holes where the vents once were.   The vents were totally missing so I got a set of donor vents from Harris.  I had to use giant washers to find some meat to attach the vents to.  Once these were attached I had to turn to the wheels.  THey were totally dry rotted and they were in multiple pieces.  I was able to put them back together like a puzzle.  I put black caulk and wound them with black electrical tape to hole them in place while the caulk dried.  I learned that the electrical tape looked almost exactly like the tread so I ultimately just left the tape in place.





I scrubbed the lid up and put new caps on the axles and there  she stood again, like a Phoenix that rose from the ashes.   






I used a donor ash pan because the original was gone.




















Here he is among the rest of his Wood Dale brothers. 





At the Chicago meet up









I was very happy to get this piece of history back together.  I didn't get a chance to cook on this at the meet up, but it is high on my priority list.  I want to thank Harris on this one, he was the one that was instrumental in saving it and getting into my hands.  I believe this came from NY Dan in the first place, maybe he can shed more light on the early history.  I'm glad I was able to help write the later chapter of this legendary grill, but definitely not the final chapter.  A real example of Rescue Restore Respect.......

[argentflame]

Great job on the resto. Awesome collection.

[SixZeroFour]

Excellent rescue and restore Brian - thanks to your efforts that red's breathin' fire once again!

[Troy]

Wow. Great job man

[Winz]

Very nice!  There is much care, time, and skill invested in that restore - it shows!

Winz

[1buckie]

Phenomenal !!!!

It occurs that this:

I had to sort out where the legs were supposed to go.....





...might have been much harder to do if they had installed it caddywampus in the first place......

[Hogsy]

Awesome Job Brian!!!
Great to see it didn't end up as scrap metal

[1911Ron]

Great job on the restore!  Could you get a shot of the bottom vents to get an idea on how you did that? Thanks.

[jcnaz]

Awesome, just awesome!

[LightningBoldtz]

Amazing restore Brian you set the bar with this one.

[zavod44]

I'll get some more pictures tonight.  There aren't many colored Wood Dales out there, I was glad to save this one

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk

[glrasmussen]

Congrats on an awesome restoration!

[saxart]

Wow, absolutely amazing!   Thanks for sharing the rebirth of "The Firebird".

Well done....   

[mhiszem]

Wow! What a breathtaking restore. It shows hope for even the most badly bruised kettles. Great Job!

[Cuda Dan]

Nice job on the rescue.