Tag Archives: atomic bbq

1970’s Electric Char-B-Que

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

I have always been a fan of vintage BBQ’s. It is such a unique experience cooking on some of these grills.

I came across this space age looking grill on eBay. The shape was so unique and

I thought it would be a nice piece to add to our collection.

This is in surprisingly good shape considering its age. I don’t think it saw much use.

The electric heating element is under the lava rock. I already took soap and

a scrubber to the whole thing and it cleaned up really well.

The first thing I plan to cook on here is herb crusted salmon fillets. I can’t wait to fire this thing up!

We were fortunate that the seller on eBay had some of the original paperwork.

In the above image you see that it originally had a stand! Bummer, I wish I had that piece to complete the set. If anybody has the stand for sale, let us know.

1950’s Big Boy Barbecue Restoration

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

Mel and I picked up this Big Boy BBQ back in March of 2014. I knew it was time to drag it out of mothballs and get it ready for the grilling season.

I wanted a smaller BBQ than our GE Partio Cart for when I feel like just grilling something quickly.

The first step was to disassemble the BBQ.

This BBQ appeared to have been painted with a paint brush. Unfortunately, who ever painted did not do a very good job.

As you can see this grill had lots of surface rust and peeling paint.

No time like the moment! I jumped right in and started sanding. I noticed a lot of surface rust under the old paint.

On areas where the paint was difficult to get to I used a scraper.

After hours and hours of sanding and scraping it was ready to be painted.

I am proud to present our newly restored 1950’s Big Boy Barbeque!

I tried to add accents of red to offset all the silver paint.

The rims were originally silver but I think the red makes them pop!

This is where the coals go. This tray was incredibly rusted but after lots of sanding it looks like new.

To adjust the heat of this grill you raise and lower the coals by moving this red handle up the graduated adjuster.

With the help of my step-father Dave, we were able to cut out new side tables and apply new Formica to them so they are like new.

I had to order a new rotisserie motor for the grill. The one that came with it is toast. I was fortunate that I found an original NOS Big Boy BBQ rotisserie motor on eBay!

Now that it is all done, I can rest my arthritic hands. I can see the benefits of a sand blaster!

I am very pleased with it’s restoration.

Now I have a reason to break out all of our vintage BBQ utensils!

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Mid Century BBQ/Grill: Huntington Model 7

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Hepcats Haven

Great picture of the grill courtesy of our friend Ed who is a fellow vintage BBQ enthusiast.

The great thing about what we do is that we get the chance to meet a lot of great people. Mel and I met a really nice couple named Steve (decorated Vietnam Navy veteran) and Sharon (fellow antique dealer) when we recently purchased some antique rifles. While we were there, Steve showed me around his property and we came upon this barn find.

Mel loves that this grill has hairpin legs. It is such a cool little unit!

I am going to have to disassemble the whole unit, strip, and paint all the surfaces. I haven’t decided what color to paint it yet. Per my post about the Royal Chef grill that I restored, there aren’t may color choices for high temperature paint.

I assume this is a storage area.

This area of the BBQ is meant to house grill utensils such as the tongs, spatula, fork etc.. It also has a tray for matches and other items.

I need to find a lid for the grill portion on the right. The two holes in the middle are meant to hold bowls for sauces. I am planning on crafting a removable semi-circle cutting board on the left side.