Reilly's vintage Weber Fireplace

[Jeff]

Spoke to him through email and mentioned a lot of us would like to see more of the Fireplace he was lucky enough to purchase on Ebay a few months back.  If you have any additional questions, he asked to forward them to me and I will ask him.  Thanks guys.

Enjoy!









This is the top rear grate holder, it is hooked for some reason. Maybe so the grate won't slip while you try to flip your steaks.


Top vent, mounted on the inside.


Back view


Base


Side view of base, notice the bracket in the back is slightly angled outward. It is to hold the bowl in, which has a tab that hooks into it.


Bowl


Close up of bowl tab fitting into base bracket


Closer pic of tab in bracket


Side tabs loop over base


Side view


Top vent close up


Pic of the base turned over


Coal grate has a stair step shape


It seems to be made that way to fit on tabs inside bowl.


Cooking grate has center rod bent on both ends pointing downward


Close up of cooking grate


Close up of top grate secured by hooked tab


Close up of top grate with bent center rod. It lines up in front of side trusses.


Close up of interior with grates


Inside lid


Side view


Rear view

[Jocool]

Was this the type of unit that would be fitted inside a normal hearth in a home? I'm not sure, but I think a similar one was discovered during a reno when a hearth had been filled in, and subsequently rescued and saved to be sold on E-Prey not long ago here in Oz.

Hogsy?

Sent from another planet using Mental Telepathy.

[Jeff]

Yeah Jocool...same type.  Its in one of the Weber '64 and '67 catalogs.  They came in black as well as red.  They also had 18 and 22" versions.

[G]

Awesome pics....thanks for posting.  Thats a great piece of Weber history.  Interesting how the top vent is mounted inside the bowl.  It also has no markings just like the vintage blue 18 on eBay.

[G$]

Thanks for posting all that Jeff.  The more I see of these fireplaces, the weirder they seem: internal vents, mis-shapen grates, additional hooks and tabs.  I would have loved the be in the product development meetings during design. I bet they kept tweaking "one little thing" until it was entirely unique.  I can't believe that they sold very many of these ...

[pbe gummi bear]

Send my regards to Ed, Jeff. That fireplace is sweet. It also looks really complicated to make!

[pbe gummi bear]

Thanks for posting all that Jeff.  The more I see of these fireplaces, the weirder they seem: internal vents, mis-shapen grates, additional hooks and tabs.  I would have loved the be in the product development meetings during design. I bet they kept tweaking "one little thing" until it was entirely unique.  I can't believe that they sold very many of these ...

G$, I agree. All the weird features are by necessity though. Weird shape grate for the tilted cross section, interior vent so you dont have to reach for the back, tabs so things don't fall, etc. I wonder if an exec forced them to make this as a pet project or if market research called for it.

[Hogsy]

Wow..... Thanks RR for the pics and thanks Jeff for posting
That is very cool.....and  Something Golly and I could discuss and study over a few beers
Any chance of an international exchange?
Maybe it could spend a week in each State where members have a chance to look and play with it
JoCool I missed that on eBay . Do you still have the listing? I doubt whether it was a weber due to the vintage and weber only arrived in OZ in the mid 70's
So is that the 2nd top vent with no markings we've seen?

[Duke]

Fabulous!

[Golly]

That's going straight to the pool room

Thanks RR & JEFF

[Jocool]

No I don't have the listing, and I can't recall 100% when it was. It just sounds right that's all.

Sent from another planet using Mental Telepathy.

[Hogsy]

It wasn't from here was it?
http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/trading-post/penthouse-on-ebay-wow/

[Jocool]

Ni not that one mate.

Sent from another planet using Mental Telepathy.

[Peaspurple]

Beautiful!!

[1buckie]

Thanks for the perve, both Reilly & Jeff......

Only two things surprize me on this, well three.....

The little nubbins on the underside of upper grate, why?

The stair step on the charcoal grate, looks like it steps DOWN towards the front?


The rest makes Webersense.......the third was going to be that it survived.....but that does make Webersense.....

The clips that hang on the side rails are just about the same as an old wok, they almost look too wide for the rails on this......like they borrowed parts from said wok......