Cold Call - '73-'75 Yellow 22"

[brewtownbeatdown]

Back in June I came across a yellow 22" when I stopped at one of my customers. Had never noticed it there before, until they cleaned up & organized around their building. All of a sudden it appeared by the main shop entrance. Being a WKC member, I immediately started asking about it w/o showing my enthusiasm (awesome game face). Owner wasn't there, so I got his info & gave him a call. Owner didn't want to sell, since he still used it occasionally. Had $30 into a black '01 OTG (thanks @einrej). So, I offered it as a trade. That seemed to peak his interest. It was about a week before he returned from the project he was working on. When he saw the OTG, he figured he was getting a good deal, and I knew I was. As you can see from the pics, it was in rough shape.
He bought used & the prior owner was nice (DUMB) enough to prime/paint the bowl. You can tell that ashes were left inside and got wet. Unfortunately, it corroded the grate brackets (one severely). Two leg sockets had bad spot welds. Legs seized in sockets. Two missing daisy wheels. The wheels were seized to the corroded triangle. No original grates.

Regardless of all this, I still saw the potential. I wanted to work on my resto/clean-up techniques for a while, before attempting this project. This also gave me time to collect some parts. Spent $30 on three donors to get what I needed. Still have two complete, non-perfect donor kettles afterwards.

Spent hours & hours & hours on getting the paint off the bowl. Razor blades, steel wool, paint thinner, oven cleaner, heat gun, & lots of cursing helped get the job done. Unfortunately, the corrosion of the grate bracket spot welds left some rough dimples on the exterior. Was unable to get the primer completely out of the dimpled areas w/o damaging porcelain & didn't want to chance wearing a hole into those spots. Didn't want to do, but my best option was to clean the spots & paint them yellow. I prefer to leave character spots like they are. Was able to work rear legs out, but front leg needed to be altered to remove. Used a donor front leg. Drilled out bad spot welds on leg sockets & used rivets & fender washers to re-secure. Replaced missing daisy wheels.


Scavenged a clean triangle from one of the donors & polished.  Retouched the white stripes on the wheels.


Refinished the handle, as well as a donor handle, to ensure I would have the best looking original handle set for it. Found some SS security screws that look very close to original rivet style.


Rest of work done was the typical polishing & cleaning. Funny how different the yellow looks in fluorescent light compared to sunlight. Finished product:
Can't wait to fire it up & watch the FADE!!!


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[pbe gummi bear]

Looks great, man. RRR

[Troy]

WOWWWWW
That is a great score man! KILLER rescue and restore.

Mind if we blog this and put it on the front page?

[crumbsnatcher]

Nice restore!  Good to see other Milwaukee members on WKC. 


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[brewtownbeatdown]

WOWWWWW
That is a great score man! KILLER rescue and restore.

Mind if we blog this and put it on the front page?

Thanks for the compliment. It was a lot of work, but well worth it. Blog away (my spelling & punctuation look correct).


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[Bob BQ]

Looks phenomenal! Congrats on the score and the RRR!

[MrHoss]

Flippin' great cleanup/restore on that baby. Do enjoy.

[WNC]

Phenomenal restore!
Great find, and way to bring it back from the brink.
Can't wait to see some cooks and see that think change color!

[weldboy]

That kettle has loads of character! Fantastic cleanup and restore. RRR!

[fedex]

That's Sick!!! 

[crowderjd]

Looks great!  Congratulations on the find and restore!

[SixZeroFour]

Wow is right! Fantastic job on the restore brew! And what a great grill to add to the stable - congrats!

[jcnaz]

That came out great. Congratulations!

[Santo]

Excellent restore, congrats!

[Jon]

You did an incredible job. The original condition must have been disheartening, but you have made it look great.