OK - so I spent some more time going over the grill today. As luck would have it, I went back and looked at the listing and realized that the grill DID have the bottom rack in the photos and the seller forgot to give it to me, presumably when he was moving it. I reached out to him, he said he forgot it and I went back and picked it up... so the grill is now "complete". I went over the frame and it's solid, just appears to be surface rust that can be scraped, sanded and treated. I did see one spot on the rear leg that didn't look too bad, but it probably should be welded for good measure. Overall it looks really good.
First impressions inside the firebox - the stainless flavorizer bars look great except -- what -- LAVA ROCK? Why! I pulled that crap out pronto...
Burner tubes look great - I did notice that the crossmember was bent a little bit. The middle tube looks like it somehow got pushed too far over from the valve. I slid it back over after I took the photo and it lined up.
I am thinking for a proper restore, I may go the sandblasting route for the side tables, lid sides, and firebox and then high temp paint. I don't personally have a sandblaster, but I know there are some places here locally that do it.
While I like the larger side tables from a practical standpoint for cooking, part of me wishes they were standard wood or durawood slats - they'd be easier to refinish...
Oh - it had the entire owner's manual in mint condition. The plastic binder was definitely very brittle from age. While trying to clean it, part of the Weber logo started to rub off so I just left it alone.
Let me know your thoughts on this one!
