He came all the way from San Jose. Chief Mater moves to Omaha.

[Craig]

As you've already read, Duke acquired the Mothership II from Brian. To make room, Duke and I made a deal on his brown 26"er aka "Mater". Not only have I scored a 26" brown, but along with it came some goodies inside. Among them, the expanded metal ring he fabricated to raise the cooking grate and the custom charcoal basket that he used. For those who may be unfamiliar, the older 26"ers grates sit much lower than on the modern ones. This ring puts it at the height of the modern grates while still being able to use the sweet original grate and it fits like a glove. It's sturdy as heck and I don't plan to take it out. Since acquiring it, its almost all I have cooked on. Save for Thanksgiving and 1 or 2 other cooks. I'll have to break out my vintage work table for it soon. Thank you, Duke for such an awesome cooker and piece of Weber history.

Here it is.... Chief Mater



Turns out, Mater's a "PAT PENDING" from 1969-1970. I hadn't known that before. 

Let's check under the hood. It was much cleaner when I got it.... this is after it's been cooked on by me multiple times.



Of course, the Warrior had to pose with his new boss.



At Night...




I'm working on new "replica" wheels.  They are metal rimmed. The tread pattern is like the '70s version. All they will need is some whitewalls.





Thanks for looking.

[MaxBobcat]

Looks awesome.  Those old MBH 26'rs are something else.  Very cool! 

[G]

Thats beautiful....Im digging that cooking grate lifter mod.  Please share more info on those wheels.....where did you get them?

[glrasmussen]

Very nice!!!

[Duke]

Congratulations Craig, I think it's looks better already. Please share a few cooks and try not to neglect those other members of the stable.

[Ken Mc]

BEAUTIFUL !!!!!!

[kendoll]

Very nice! I hadn't realised you were after a brown 26 Craig.

Ken

[jcnaz]

Beautiful grill you have there!

[Craig]

Thats beautiful....Im digging that cooking grate lifter mod.  Please share more info on those wheels.....where did you get them?

Thanks for the kind words, gents! Stu, the wheels I got are from Ace Hardware. Arnold brand 8" offest wheels. They are white rimmed. These do not have the rolling bearings. About $13 a piece. These wheels are heavy duty. The hub is 1/2" instead of 3/8" so I will add some 1/2 aluminum to the triangle axle to keep them snug. They are as close to authentic as I have found. Since original metals and the early plastic/rubber treaded 70s wheels are hard to come by, this seems to be the next best thing. I need to get with Brian about whitewall tape for these. Now all I need to find is a brown 18 and the trifecta of brownies will be complete.

[G]

THanks Craig.  I googled 8" lawn mower wheels and saw those but was wondering about the hub size.

[wyd]

Wow love the brown 26er and didn't even knew they made one in brown.  Since I been on this site for a few months I decided I would collect brownies.  So far I have 3.  I guess I need to look for a 26er and an 18 in brown if they make it.

Really awesome score.

[Weber MD]

Sweet like bear meat!