Wednesday, October 5, 2016

BACKWARD CROOKED K MODEL WEBER



“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.  Ain’t that the truth? I frequently search Craiglsist in search of bbq items especially old model Weber’s. There is a whole group of people that collect vintage Weber kettle barbecues. In fact I am a card carrying member of the Weber Kettle Club. (W.K.C.). They have a great web site that has everything you could ever imagine about the Weber kettle bbq. There are discussion forums, sales and trades, and even information how to date your classic/vintage bbq. To begin our story I would like to share my latest Craigslist find. It is a beautiful “Red Head”, “Backward Crooked K Model Weber’ kettle grill.

This bbq was advertised on Craiglsist by a fellow W.K.C member Jim. Jim  is an avid collector and restorer of Weber barbecues. This particular model had lovingly been restored by replacing the wooden handles and installing a brand new “one touch’ vent system. He also cleaned and polished this kettle to showroom floor quality. A bright red color is affectionately called a ‘Redhead’ by the W.K.C. community.  This kettle looked brand spanking new except for the fact it was twenty eight years old.


The way we can determine the age of this barbeque is a stamp in the upper kettle lid vent. Every year the vent is stamped with a new letter and or number combination. This particular model has a ‘K” that is backwards and crooked. This backward K is rare because it basically is a mistake caused by possible carelessness, rebellion?, and most likely stamp operator error.

The backward crooked K is located between the 
bottom two holes above "Made in USA"


This model fits perfectly in my custom wooden barbeque cart. I need the older model with wooden handles to fit in my custom cart. Jim from the Weber Kettle Club found a “Backwards Crooked K Model and restored it to its former beauty. We both walked away from this deal with a smile on our faces. I did not even mention the ‘Craycort’ cast iron grill grates that came with this unit. That will be a story for another day.

3 comments:

  1. I wish Jim would work mine over. My dad had one in the 60's that had long horn heads painted on it- a tremendous amount of meat passed through it over several years.

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  2. Big Dude, I have seen images of the kettle you are talking about. That would be a coveted collectors item. It is amazing how well they can be cleaned up and a lot of parts are still available for restoration.

    Greg, I think so too.

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