You guys may not believe this!


 
Jon Tofte

Jon Tofte

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
A couple weeks ago I started a post about Broilmaster grills and got some interesting feedback. I started trolling for one of these, but all I could find was one not too far from me which looked great (new grates, burner, hood and firebox!), but the seller obviously knew what he had and was asking $500. I found one in Connecticut on OfferUp which is now starting to have a shipping option in some markets. This one didn't look too bad in the fuzzy picture and they only wanted $100!!! and shipping was supposedly just $30. Didn't make a lot of sense, but I "offered" the asking price and shipping cost. Apparently, the seller didn't really understand that their grill was being shown as available for shipping and they declined to ship it. I even tried offering more for the shipping, but no response.

So, I got to thinking about the guy near me. His add vaguely referenced stuff about additional parts. So, I asked him if his grill had the desirable "bowtie" burner rather than the cheaper basic one. He said yes and gave me a little bit of a sales pitch. I told him that I understood his price was very fair (for a $1300 to $1500 grill) but that it was beyond my reach. I said "if you should get to the place where you might consider $350, let me know." He replied immediately and said he would take $350 cash. So, I was in a little bit of a pickle since I didn't really expect he would bite and certainly not right away. I grabbed some last tax season $ and figured I didn't have that much to lose to at least go and look.

Here is what I found:

Grill had almost all new parts as advertised. The stainless grates were HEAVY and looked as thick as rcplanebuyer's. I tested and they are non-magnetic as is all the stainless except the burner itself. About the only thing that wasn't new was the control panel (needs a new label) and the upper retractable shelf (304 stainless) which was a little dirty but an easy cleanup. The THICK cast aluminum firebox and hood were brand new with sparkling aluminum insides:

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OK, $350 - while relatively cheap for this grill - is still a lot of money, at least for me. But wait, there was more...The owner and his wife were an incredibly nice couple that have decided to sell their house and most of their stuff to try life seeing the country in a fifth wheel. Anyway, the guy proceeded to pull out box after box of MORE Broilmaster parts:

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Keep in mind that these grates are over $100 bucks a set and the bow-tie burners are similarly priced. THREE SETS OF GRATES, THREE SETS OF BURNERS. Wow...So it was obvious he had planned to do a restoration, and when we discussed this he said that this was correct. So I asked him, "What happened to the original main grill parts?" He laughed and told me to wait and see. Taking me to his side yard, there was an original firebox, hood and base. They looked tired, but the base is 304 stainless and the cast aluminum firebox and hood are prime candidates for relatively easy wire-brushing and paint restoration:

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So, he said I could have it ALL for the $350. He asked me if I intended to flip the first grill. I said probably not, at least not for a while, because I really wanted to USE a Broilmaster. When he showed me the SECOND grill parts I told him, "I WILL flip this!"

It has rained continuously and/or I have been stuck with honeydos, so I haven't even started. My plan at this point is to restore the old grill, cleanup the old parts and re-use them and then scavenge what is missing (handle, regulator and few other things) from the mostly new grill. I figure that this can be my keeper. I will have to decide whether it does better than my Q3200; one stays, one goes. If I keep this Broilmaster I will then rebuild the almost all new, spotless one as time and funds allow and then try to sell with patience and recover my money. If I am lucky, I will wind up with a decent Broilmaster with a net cost of zero.

What do you guys think?

p.s. When I can actually GRILL with this thing I will give an honest full assessment.
 
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WOW! Congratulations; you are well-deserving of this find. Your wife finally has a grill on a pedestal ;)
 
BFletcher said:
WOW! Congratulations; you are well-deserving of this find. Your wife finally has a grill on a pedestal ;)
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Even my wife admitted that this one was probably a worthwhile deal. All will be OK as long as I keep ONLY it or my big Q on our deck (along with one Genesis). She is OK with 2 grills (not thrilled, but OK). It is when there are more outside our door that I get in serious trouble. What I have in the shed and backyard she doesn't really care about;)!
 
Great luck on that one Jon. Keep us posted on how you like it. That first one was done up nicely.
 
Great find Jon. I look forward to hearing how the grill performs in comparison to vintage webers.

Just to clarify though - the seller gave you two separate grills right? A newer one. And an older one with spare parts that he had planned to rehab?
 
Yep you got quite the find there Jon! People who typically own these products are true fans. I remember when I finally sold mine (I had 2 at the time the "runner" a black premium and a parts/fixer upper a green premium). I had the runner bolted to my deck as it had the deck pedestal and the other (the green one) also was on a pedestal. It too like yours was a "shell". I had the original cast iron grates, no rock grate, when I picked it up I forgot part of the pedestal (slaps head) luckily no an expensive part, I had the valves and manifold though. The grill body was in outstanding condition though. My plan originally was to fix greenie up for son in law. But like so many projects I had it fell by the wayside.
Anyway when I made the decision that something had to start going I decided on the Broilmaster bolted to the deck and the project grill on my front patio. So I listed on CL. A guy came out from the burbs with his wife just absolutely sick that he had broken his own. (while cleaning it he dropped the lid and broke an ear off for the hinge). So when he came out and saw mine with new burner, new SS grates, OEM cast iron, a rotisserie set up, and the parts grill he was beside himself. My grill even had the extendable second rack made of stainless steel. Hard to find. They were ecstatic.
Best of luck with yours Jon. I really think when taken for what it is (a solid, bulletproof, simple grill) you'll enjoy it.
 
Greg M said:
Great find Jon. I look forward to hearing how the grill performs in comparison to vintage webers.

Just to clarify though - the seller gave you two separate grills right? A newer one. And an older one with spare parts that he had planned to rehab?
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Yes, pretty much. The second “old” one is in pieces, and while he has several sets of grates and burners, the old one is still missing parts. I figure it is better to use the old parts for myself and save the new parts to ultimately rebuild one to sell. The “new” one was fully operational, but I think I will come out ahead for trying to sell if I hold the new firebox etc for that. I will have to buy a few missing parts before I could resell that one if I scavenge from it to rebuild the old one.
 
Nice Find!

One of my first gassers was a cheaper version with the porcelain-coated steel grates and the H-Burner.
("Upgraded" it with Ceramic Briquettes instead of the Lava Rock, which worked MUCH better - got that one on a close-out at a hardware store and got about 5 years out of it.)

You also DO know that those L-cross-section grates can be flipped for two different cooking heights, right? (JIC you did not already know)

They make a quality piece of gas-grilling equipment
 
Ron G. said:
Nice Find!

One of my first gassers was a cheaper version with the porcelain-coated steel grates and the H-Burner.
("Upgraded" it with Ceramic Briquettes instead of the Lava Rock, which worked MUCH better - got that one on a close-out at a hardware store and got about 5 years out of it.)

You also DO know that those L-cross-section grates can be flipped for two different cooking heights, right? (JIC you did not already know)

They make a quality piece of gas-grilling equipment
Click to expand...

Ron,

Yeah, it is very old-fashioned and simple, but rock solid. He included a couple bags of lava rocks but also a bag of ceramic briquettes. I am intrigued by the ceramic plates with holes that are offered now. Not too cheap, but maybe at some point. The stainless grates are extremely impressive and the dual height concept looks very interesting. It is hard to resist just using the almost all new one, but I think my plan is better. I am looking forward to putting this thing to a real test with some strip steaks!

p.s. I don't know if you saw my original post about Broilmaster grills, but here is a link. I started by discussing the fact that they don't look like much but those who know say they are great. I also mention the truly Made in USA factor, which I do think is pretty special these days.

https://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?73919-Broilmaster-Grills

Jon
 
Jon those grates have far more than only 2 height settings. Once you experiment you'll love that feature. I used ceramic plates and briquettes and I think overall I liked the briquettes better. They gave a better grilled flavor to food
 
Bruce,
That is the same grill just an older model. They apparently go back even longer than Weber. The box and lid are about the same. That was the kind of deal I was going to try and hold out for, but I am hoping with all the extras and almost a second grill that I can come out with a nice one with stainless bar grates and not be out of pocket very much when all is said and done and I sell off what I don’t need.
 
That one on Facebook gives me an idea about the handle. The old one is missing this and a new style stainless one is very pricey. Looks like it would be pretty easy to make an old style wood one like that grill has, save some money and have a classic look to boot!:cool:
 
Jon Tofte said:
Bruce,
That is the same grill just an older model. They apparently go back even longer than Weber. The box and lid are about the same. That was the kind of deal I was going to try and hold out for, but I am hoping with all the extras and almost a second grill that I can come out with a nice one with stainless bar grates and not be out of pocket very much when all is said and done and I sell off what I don’t need.
Click to expand...

They go back far longer than Weber. IIRC back to the late 50's maybe early 60's. There were many like it to. My father in law had one bolted to his concrete back stoop on his house in Richfield MN where my wife grew up. IT went by a different name back in the 50's. They were called "Warm Morning" grills but same company. They were still tanks but typically only had one burner
There were others made by different companies some you may recognize. Charmglow, CharBroil, MHP, PGS and few others. All followed the same formula. Very heavy cast aluminum fire box and lid, heavy cast iron grate (some height adjustable), large bowtie or H shaped burner and a bed of lava rock over the top of the burner. They also all had another characteristic and that was the fire box was VERY deep. Knowing full well lava rock would cause lots if flare up BUT that was a desirable thing to give that "flame grilled" esthetic. The idea was the flames were good and had a desired effect but keeping the food far enough away helped control that effect and their size. Actually lava rock was not a problem until cheaper versions of grills began coming out with shallow fire boxes and lighter weight which needed more BTU to heat and put that nice "flare up" too close to the food. But honestly those old grills actually did cook better than we now give them credit for
 
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