1. Just put your new kettle together (for additional help, search on puckerbutt).
2. Use it.
3. Use it as often as you can.
4. Use it some more.
Forty seven years from now, when a newbie is looking for a classic kettle, they'll pickup your kettle for a steal, see that it was well used, and will only be able to imagine some of the stories and memories it helped create.
They will then experience the joy and satisfaction that only comes from asking lots of questions on which way to burn a snake, WTF is MBH-SS-MT-SJP, trying to track down old parts, ABTs!!, and cleaning a piece of Americana, trying to restore it to its glory, and reusing it to create new memories, and respecting the icon that IS a Weber Kettle.
Of all the kettles I have/had, we've only purchased one brand new Weber kettle. It was black, and it was back in 1978. It's patched together some, but now it's my Old Grey that I cook on today. My son even commented last night, "I'm glad you didn't get rid of that one."
sniff sniff
That's my boy!