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Tag Archives: vintage grill

1970’s Electric Char-B-Que

Posted on August 16, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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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.

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1950’s Big Boy Barbecue Restoration

Posted on April 23, 2015 by Hepcats Haven

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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.

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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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!

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

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I am very pleased with it’s restoration.

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

6 Comments

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Another 1950’s BBQ (Big Boy BBQ)

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Hepcats Haven

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Mel and I were cruising Craigslist when I decided to search for vintage BBQ’s and SHAZAM!  We came across a 1950’s Big Boy BBQ.  This one is similar to the 1963 Royal Chef I recently restored.

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The above picture is from the catalog and shows the particulars including the original price of $79.95.

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I emailed the owner and had the pleasure to meet a gentleman by the name of Shaun.  He has a passion for things from this era just like Mel and I.

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As you can see above, the compartment above the grill opens up and can be used as a warming tray.

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That red knob in the picture above is to adjust the level of the briquettes which in return adjusts the heat.

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This is the rotisserie and appears to be in good shape.  I’ll clean it up, oil it and with some luck it will run like new.

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This grill had many of the original accessories including these way out tongs.

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This BBQ also came with a lot of other accessories that are listed in the Big Boy BBQ book.  Here is what else came with this awesome grill:

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Here are the two books that came with this grill:

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I plan to keep the grill original and paint it silver with red accents.  This should be a fairly easy resto and I hope to start on it soon.

9 Comments

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Mid Century BBQ/Grill: Huntington Model 7

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Hepcats Haven
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Great picture of the grill courtesy of our friend Ed who is a fellow vintage BBQ enthusiast.

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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.

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

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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.

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I assume this is a storage area.

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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.

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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.

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Our friend Ed has the same grill, but he also has this owners manual.

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This one is very similar to ours except it is set up for a rotisserie and has a condiment tray on the back of the unit.

9 Comments

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Royal Chef Restoration

Posted on February 4, 2014 by Hepcats Haven

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Royal Chef BBQ Before

Here is our Royal Chef as we purchased it.  As you can see, there is a lot of surface rust and dirt.

Royal Chef BBQ Before

The first thing I did was break the whole grill down so I could start the painting process.

Paint for Royal Chef BBQ

Unfortunately, there are not many color choices when it comes to high temperature BBQ paint.  I was able to find a gun steel blue high temperature spray paint online.  I also wanted to buy high temperature primer as well.

Royal Chef BBQ with Primer

Here is the main body of the grill in primer.

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After the primer had dried, I painted it.  I do like the color.  It may be hard to tell, but there is a metal flake in the paint.

Royal Chef BBQ After

After a lot of sanding and cleaning, I managed to get the whole grill repainted.  I reassembled it and here it is!

Royal Chef BBQ After

I painted the inside of the grill with black grill paint.  I also refinished the rotisserie and got it working again!

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I am soo glad the paint isn’t in a flat finish, more like something between eggshell and semigloss.

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I am very happy with the coverage of this paint.  This lower tray had a lot of surface rust.  The paint and primer makes it look like new.

Royal Chef BBQ After

I think I will take this over to my upholstery guy Bill from B&T Upholstery to make a cover for it.  I will have him sew the two letters “R C” Royal Chef on the cover.  Now that this is done, onto the next thing!

3 Comments

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