Will be driving to Weber kettle Mecca tonight


 
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Brian O'Neal

Brian O'Neal

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I'm going to my Dad's house in Huntley Illinois tonight. I have to drive by the Weber charcoal grill production facility there. It is a massive factory. The building is humongous. Not that it's a big deal, I know it's silly but I do always stare at the building as I drive by. It's the birthplace of all kettles. I get a little choked up everytime. I need to sneak in and do some dumpster diving
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Brian
 
I think you should sneak in Mission Impossible style.
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I could just see the headlines now! "Man breaks into Weber facility on Christmas Eve"
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Please wear red.
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I sent the Mother Ship an email asking if they did plant tours - I was hoping to plan a pilgrimage - but alas (due in no small part, I'm sure, to other members of my profession - lawyers) they do not do tours. I guess I will have to make due with a tour at Jack Daniels' Distillery.......

Pat
 
Brian
When you go through their inventory, somewhere in the back corner of the darkest room you might find my late 60's red Smokey I gave to them in exchange for a new 22 Blue OTG....please bring it back to me. Its my biggest Weber mistake. Please forgive me Weber gods for I knew not any better. I was still a newbie!!!
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No, not for real you nut....the factory is like a quarter mile off of Rt 47. I can see the factory because it is so huge but I am not real close to it. Besides I have driven down there before and you really can't get anywhere. It's a road for trucks and employees. It's like your tresspassing if you keep going. I'll try to Take a picture next time I drive out there. It has the weber sign on the outside but it is pretty non descript. They do have a sale once a year but I have never been there. I am going to try to go this year. I need to see what's going on over there.

Brian
 
They stopped the sale when they opened up the little factory store here in Palatine.


I have been there but it wasn't worth the trip. I was hoping for half price kettles with minor cosmetic blemishes. In reality, the store is the size of a bedroom, filled with mostly odds and ends [aprons, spice bottles, ets] but none of it really was discounted.
 
Originally posted by Brian O'Neal:
Is there anything worth seeing in the Palatine store?

Brian
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I stopped in the Palatine office about a year ago to deliver a old Weber Ranger to be shipped overseas to Weber Europe(biggest Weber mistake I've made) and they have a corperate office up front with some Weber products, including an original 1952 bouy kettle. When I was snapping a picture of it, one of the Stephen brothers walked by and jokingly said "spy's are in the shop, let's get rid of them" I explained to him I was delivering an old Ranger for the office in Europe. He turned out to be a nice guy. He took my brother and I into the shop and showed us all the old grills they had(including a brand new never used westerner sitting outside his office door) and we talked about vintage Webers for a good 30 minutes.

If you got the time, I say stop by and see what you can check out.
Shaun, I will say that place is locked down tighter than fort knox. when I first got there I had to explain to parking lot security what I was doing there before he would open the gate and let me in. And then when I parked I went into the wrong building and there was a man there monitoring about 15 cameras that immediately stopped us and told us "NO ENTRY" there was signs posted once we walked in that read, approved personnel only, no cameras. (I think it was the R+D department.
 
Originally posted by Jeff Kolodziejski:
For real Brian?? Mine had the offset handle on top...and the top vent(which was part of the top handle) was red. Get a pic!
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Jeff's hook, line and sinker response tells me he really is sorry he gave that Smokey away.
 
Todd said,
an original 1952 bouy kettle. When I was snapping a picture of it, one of the Stephen brothers walked by and jokingly said "spy's are in the shop, let's get rid of them" I explained to him I was delivering an old Ranger for the office in Europe. He turned out to be a nice guy. He took my brother and I into the shop and showed us all the old grills they had(including a brand new never used westerner sitting outside his office door) and we talked about vintage Webers for a good 30 minutes.
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Any chance you can post some pictures for us?
I will probably never make the trip to Illinois, so pics are the best I can hope for..
 
AJ, this is the picture I took of the original bouy kettle.
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Brian, I don't believe they have a store, the room I saw with the original bouy kettle only had a few grills in it. It seemed to be a corporate office with a couple grills in there for show. All the other grills I saw where in the back where Ken Stephens took us by there office. I might be wrong on the sales, but I didn't get the feeling they sold any there, that place is locked down tight.
 
Thats pretty sweet. Does anyone know how many of these original kettles they sold or made? How many are out there? Is that what was sold or some kind of prototype? How possible is it someone could find one of these grills?

Brian
 
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