CASTRO VALLEY NEWS
Community news Magazine, April 2019 castrovalleynewsgroup.com Forgive the casual use of a cheesy pun here... but you could say the awesome multi-colored collection of Weber barbecue kettles owned by Castro Valley resident Jim King really cooks. “I’m just a ‘fixer’ type of person,” King told Castro Valley News as he pointed out some the many brightly colored kettles he has stored in his garage. That garage is also occupied by two gorgeous vintage Corvettes and a cornucopia of barbecue components, bricquettes and other grilling parts.
Boy Meets Grill
Almost every room in the King home has a “cooker or looker” kettle that is either restored or is in the process of being brought back to life. King got the Weber itch a few years ago when a relative passed along a 1970s Weber that was heading for the rubbish heap. In the throes of restoring that kettle, King immersed himself in endless history and information on Weber kettles that can be found online. Weber kettles have a dedicated following and many are quite collectible. Recently, a 1958 kettle that King has in his collection of dozens, sold online for about $4,000. As history goes, the first Weber kettle was actually an old marine buoy used for mooring boats. It was cut in half and fitted with vents at the top and bottom for cooking.
King invests about two hours restoring his finds and sells some of them online across the United States, Europe and even as far as Australia. He says he acquires most of his kettles via online sales, auctions and estate sales. “I’m not into this for the money, doing this has allowed me to make a lot of friends and have some fun,” he added.