Why I do this...

[Ted B]

I picked up a early 70's brownie today. It was on a garage sale last week just over an hour away that I couldn't make. Emailed the seller after the sale and its was still available. Met them today to pick it up. Great guy he bought it around 1974 and has used it since. Has the original booklet and cookbook. While chatting with him my son (10) mentioned I have 20 some grills. That explained to him why some guy drove all that way for some old well used grill. The grill was kept at their second home on a lake and used a lot. He was happy to hear that it was going to a good home. When I checked my email later I had this message.

"My husband told me how much you liked the grill.  We grilled our last meal on it last Friday.  Interesting to know you are a collector of Weber grills.   We feel it has found a good home.  Thanks for your purchase."

[TheDude]

That's pretty cool. I've thought of sending cleaned up pics, after buying. Never have though.

[Ted B]

Hopefully I'll remember.  I'd like to do that.

[Cellar2ful]

A lot of the kettles that we acquire are from original owners. They can no longer use them for a myriad of reasons.  We forget some of these folks may have created a lot of special memories in the 20 to 40 years of owning and using them. At the request of sellers I have sent pictures of kettles I have restored on two different occasions.  The most memorable one was a 90 blue OTP, listed for free on CL.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/weber-kettles-accessories/pat-pending-mt/ 

The woman who posted the add said it was suppose to be for her son, but he said he did not want it. I could tell in our conversation how disappointed she was that her son did not want it.  I sent her pictures of the finished restoration and here's her response I received that night:

"Jim, you really like Webers!  I owned the blue Weber for 20-25 years and taught my son how to bar-b-que on it (he's now 29).  It makes me happy to see it refurbished and know it has a good home.  Thanks so much for sharing the photos!"     Marcie

My original intent was to clean the kettle up and resell it on CL. After talking with Marcie and receiving the above email response, I decided to keep it. To this day, that kettle is still one of my two main work horse kettles. As @Craig says, "Every kettle has a story".  Every time I cook on it, it tells its story and reminds me of Marcie.

Hopefully I'll remember.  I'd like to do that.

Hopefully this story gives you incentive to remember and send restoration pictures to the sellers.