Did I accidentally acquire a rare Weber Grill (NFL 1995 edition?)

[buterfligurl]

https://imgur.com/gallery/GXnayOs

So, I picked this up around Thanksgiving and just now got around to assessing the condition. Upon inspection, it is model year 1995 (EO), wooden handle (which is badly degraded), and what I thought was unfortunate, has Steelers logo's on it (NFL). I am not a sports fan, but then I came across the post about the special NFL editions that were given away in 1995...

Please take a look at the pictures and let me know your opinion. Just for the record, I cannot get "under" the stickers... they seem to be part of the actual lid.

For those that are interested, I want to restore this kettle. There is rust on the areas that hold the actual grill in place (see imgur pics). What is the best way to repair this?

[SixZeroFour]

Very interesting find!

I'm far from an expert on the NFL grills but I believe they were all originally stand alone Master-Touch model kettles (instead of a performer cart). So the lid may have originally come off a different kettle bottom, but the good news is you will be able to find the parts you need no matter which route you chose...

If you decide to go back to its original form, a black MT bottom assembly should not be too tall of a task to track down - aka just stick your lid onto another black MT. Or if you want to use it as the performer then a performer bowl in black should also be relatively easy to track down depending on how hardcore you want to go on the repair. The existing performer cart and bowl appear to be a little bit rough but nothing a little TLC / misc parts searching couldn't take care of if you want to patch it up as-is.

It depends how deep into the rabbit hole you want to go!

Either way a cool find and yes the NFL grills are quite rare.

Congrats

[Cellar2ful]

Welcome to the Forum @buterfligurl .  What you have is a NFL Edition Master Touch kettle.  As @SixZeroFour mentioned above, it appears you have only the lid as they were only produced in a Master Touch.

In 1995, Weber held BBQ contests in the parking lots of all the NFL teams prior to NFL games. These NFL Master Touch kettles were provided by Weber for participants to cook on.  Most of these contests were advertised on radio and TV prior to the games as "Official Tailgate Parties".  After the BBQ contest was finished, all participants were given the NFL MT kettles to take home. It is believed there was only 20-25 NFL Edition Master Touch kettles produced of each NFL Team that existed in 1995. These were never offered for sale to the public.  This was all done to promote the 1995 release of the Weber NFL Edition Smoke Joe's (produced only one year).

A couple of years ago, I acquired a Raider's NFL Edition Master Touch kettle from the original owner.  Below is a link to the thread on it's story:

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/index.php?topic=45405.0


Rust can be removed by using #0000 steel wool anywhere rust is present on the kettle (around the lid handle, vent rivet and where the kettle mounts to the table frame. 

[Dave in KC]

It is believed there was only 20-25 NFL Edition Master Touch kettles produced of each NFL Team ...

I have always read posts saying "about 10 per team"
I sure wish someone would be able to confirm the correct number. 

[LightningBoldtz]

It is believed there was only 20-25 NFL Edition Master Touch kettles produced of each NFL Team ...

I have always read posts saying "about 10 per team"
I sure wish someone would be able to confirm the correct number.

When I acquired my Detroit Lions MT back in 2013, Weber told me on Facebook 8 to 10 per team.  In several conversation with other people I think that number might be low.  First, the person I got mine from had a tag with her name and #14 (14 or more grills?).  I was told by someone that at one point they a lot of them and destroyed them.

Fact is, they never sold the MT's in the store.  I looked in this thread this one is mounted in a Performer cart, that a custom job or did they actually release an NFL performer?

[LightningBoldtz]

It is believed there was only 20-25 NFL Edition Master Touch kettles produced of each NFL Team ...

I have always read posts saying "about 10 per team"
I sure wish someone would be able to confirm the correct number.

When I acquired my Detroit Lions MT back in 2013, Weber told me on Facebook 8 to 10 per team.  In several conversation with other people I think that number might be low.  First, the person I got mine from had a tag with her name and #14 (14 or more grills?).  I was told by someone that at one point they a lot of them and destroyed them.

Fact is, they never sold the MT's in the store.  I looked in this thread this one is mounted in a Performer cart, that a custom job or did they actually release an NFL performer?

I just read what Matt stated and that makes the most sense, the lid came from a MT and was put on a performer black cart.