Rare Weber "DEMO" grill found - RESTORED PHOTOS ADDED

[salad]

Good job on following your gut!  You've obviously developed a keen sense of Web-dar. 
All these years and it's finally going to get treated right.  That's one historical rescue right there. 

[MaxBobcat]

Helluva find.

Congrats on the most excellent score Jeff! 

[Craig]

Awesome story and pickup! I finally found the picture you were asking me about.. It looks like this one..... (not my grill I'm sorry to say....      )


Handle pointed towards the vent, like yours... some sort of clip stuck to the right rear leg... could be remains of an ash catcher clip?? These could be 1962-63ish....




These would look sweet with an ashtrangle..










EDIT: I win the Award I didn't read down far enough to the link you posted of my thread about this one....   

[Fishawn]

Very Cool! Congrats!

[blackdog043]

That's a great find!!

[MartyG]

Beauty Jeff. It would be fun to find an old hardware store, set up a display in the front window and hold an event on the sidewalk out front. Cook a chicken or two period costumes of course!

We've gained a lot of new members since we talked about the demo guys of the ealy 60s, here's a link to that interview we published a while back. Thought it would be good to re-post it in this thread.

http://weberkettleclub.com/blog/2013/08/21/interview-with-jim-rosenthal-an-original-weber-demo-guy/

Hope to see this one at the Chicago meetup in July.

Marty

[Jeff]

Just think of how the "DEMO"s affected the spread of the use of kettles.......without THAT grill, we possibly might not be here talking about this.............


PS: What were the grates like?

That's a great point regarding how "DEMO"s may have affected the history of Weber.
Regarding the grates...I think the charcoal grate is original, and its in decent shape.  The cooking grate is not original

[Jeff]

Awesome piece of Weber history there, Jeff. Have you tried baking soda on the stain?

I have not tried that yet Lawrence, but I certainly will!  Thanks

[addicted-to-smoke]

Jeff, about this part,

"I mentioned to him that the newer ones are much easier to use with the One Touch System. So I explained that versus daisy wheel vents and having to dump the bowl upside to clean it and keep the vents opened. He looked at me sort of perplexed. I glanced in the bowl of the grill and saw it half full with ashes. Now I understood the confused look on his face."

The education thing is, for me, something we can all help anyone with as ambassadors. I've also wondered if some of you guys who buy rare grills from non-collectors ever later help them find a deal on a newer model cheaply. We know a black OTS is a regular item in CL ads, but when you're right there in the moment, without one to substitute for the owner, it could get dicey, right?

[Jeff]

Jeff, about this part,

"I mentioned to him that the newer ones are much easier to use with the One Touch System. So I explained that versus daisy wheel vents and having to dump the bowl upside to clean it and keep the vents opened. He looked at me sort of perplexed. I glanced in the bowl of the grill and saw it half full with ashes. Now I understood the confused look on his face."

The education thing is, for me, something we can all help anyone with as ambassadors. I've also wondered if some of you guys who buy rare grills from non-collectors ever later help them find a deal on a newer model cheaply. We know a black OTS is a regular item in CL ads, but when you're right there in the moment, without one to substitute for the owner, it could get dicey, right?

The place where I found this grill was 5.5 hours from my house.  Now had it been local to me, you bet I would have got this guy a nice replacement one for the one he sold me.  In a heartbeat.  Now there was an Ace Hardware down the street from where he lived, but this guy didn't look like he was ready to drop 100 on a new OTS either.   I often look at local CL ads for around that area when I'm there too, but I can't recall having seen one ever list there.  I go back to this area about 4 times a year.  I may even pick up an old one from CL here in Chicago and bring it back there and give it to him.  I kind of like that idea!

[G$]

Historical find, Jeff.  What a great grill.

[5280Jeff]

Great story and super cool grill.

[vader06]

Nice find and a great story.  Very cool grill. 

[Duke]

That's a very rare wild Demo Blaik for sure!

[harris92]

Magnificent find Jeff.  Congrats.    Quick question - how was "Demo" applied to the lid?  Is it similar in process to the logos we see today.