Bringing home an old family friend (Q-view)

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dirtsailor2003

Epic Pitmaster
Original poster
OTBS Member
Oct 4, 2012
21,947
4,224
Bend Oregon
Back in the 1966 my grandfather purchased a lime green Giant Casa Q bbq. The predecessor to the Green Egg here in the US.


Typical Sunday meal at Casa Turner (four kids, and at the time of this photo five grand kids, all of which lived with-in 15 minutes!!)

According to my Grandma the Casa Q was used every weekend while they resided in Portland, Oregon. In 1976 they moved to the Depoe Bay Oregon and built their retirement home. The Casa Q resided mainly in the garage, but came out for special holiday meals. In 1981 my grandfather passed away and the Casa Q remained in the garage for the next year and a half. In 1983 my grandmother decided to sell the house buy a fifth wheel and travel the country. Not wanting to leave the Casa Q for the new owners she gave it to some friends in town. The Casa Q sat on their back porch as a planter until two days ago! I knew that it had been there so I thought I'd inquire about bringing it home with me. Sure enough they said no problem. So a buddy and I loaded it up and brought it back.


There she is a bit of rust, a bit of coastal slime, but all in all not to bad of shape. It is missing the original flue cap. Which actually broke and my Grandpa replaced with an aluminum cap he fabricated. That cap is also missing.


Amazingly the hinge still works. I was excited to see the Blitz cans, both my Dad and Grandpa used to drink Blitz! (obviously not their cans, but an omen)!!


So from the red garbage can, there are three broken pieces, those are the charcoal basket (going to have to replace, fabricate a new one). Top left is the ceramic ring that sits on top of the charcoal basket. Still in one piece, just a bit green...


Interior shot, about 3" of coastal sludge at the bottom!!!


Lower damper door, has oxidized itself shut, so a bit of work there is going to be needed to get it to work.

I plan on doing a full restoration and hope to have the Casa Q up and smoking by spring. I will post updates as I get things cleaned up. May be a bit was only 10*F this morning and looking to be stuck at below 30* for a bit, not the best time to be cleaning!!!

Here's a few interesting links:

Ceramic Charcoal Cooking Faq's

Lump Charcoal Database

Casa Q Cook Book
 
Not directly related to smoking (but could be!) you need to post the real reason [including pictures] you keep escaping central Oregon for the waters of the Pacific so often
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Jetman<<<
 
Nice !! and a great way to remember your grandfather and dad.......I wish I was closer I would help you with the restoration......SB
 
Very cool story! Its awesome that you were able to get it back into your family! A lot of great memories are made and never forgotten around a smoker. They seem to have a sort of gravitational pull to them. I bet it'll smoke just as good as a brand new BGE would. Good luck with the restoration!
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Ricky
 
Not directly related to smoking (but could be!) you need to post the real reason [including pictures] you keep escaping central Oregon for the waters of the Pacific so often
biggrin.gif


Jetman<<<
I wouldn't want to bore everyone with photo's like these:






Just another family tradition!!!
 
Whatta cool history, and project!  Can't wait to see it come together.
  Way cool bringing your history back to life!

  Mike
Nice !! and a great way to remember your grandfather and dad.......I wish I was closer I would help you with the restoration......SB
Very cool story! Its awesome that you were able to get it back into your family! A lot of great memories are made and never forgotten around a smoker. They seem to have a sort of gravitational pull to them. I bet it'll smoke just as good as a brand new BGE would. Good luck with the restoration!
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Ricky
Thanks Guys and or Gals!!! It really is cool to have this back in the family. I really wish the weather would allow me to get started right now on it! I'm still trying to decide the best route for the metal pieces. Originally they were chromed. Which rusts like crazy! I don't know if the company that makes the kamado's and BGE still can make any of the replacement parts. If not I have a couple welder friends that can help.
 
That's cool. The old pic of grandpa really helps hit home how cool of a project this will be and how cool it will be to bridge then generations. Good luck!
 
You can use stainless?? It shines up nice.
I certainly could! I wouldn't be to unhappy with powder coated steel either. One thing I want to avoid though is having to move the thing too much. It weighs about 200#!!! I'm hoping that when I get the metal pieces off they don't completely disintegrate, that way they can be used as patterns. I may be able to clean these up via electrolysis too, but I'm not too sure yet. My biggest part that I am going to need is the ceramic firebox. I may need to check out the BGE's I may be able to use one of theirs. The original for the Casa Q just hangs and has no feet (BGE has feet to support), which I'm sure is why it is broken. The cooking grate is pretty bad, It appears that the 18.5" cooking grate will work as a good replacement.
 
That's cool. The old pic of grandpa really helps hit home how cool of a project this will be and how cool it will be to bridge then generations. Good luck!
So looking forward to your project, very cool.
I'm trying to get a few more of the backyard bbq pics from then. I was too young to remember any of it! I do remember the Casa Q when it was at the coast. Both at my Grandparents house and our friends house. Our friends that had it always had a bbq on the 5th of July and the Casa Q had geraniums growing in a pot with the lid up... Ugghhhh! I've been doing a bunch of research and there's not much on the Casa Q out there. So my vest resources right now are the BGE.
 
I have 3 of the older style ceramic feet..  

Looked at the BGE site and they dont list them...

If ya want them send me yer snaily and the next time I go by the PO I will send them yer way..

  Craig
 
I have 3 of the older style ceramic feet..  

Looked at the BGE site and they dont list them...

If ya want them send me yer snaily and the next time I go by the PO I will send them yer way..

  Craig
Craig,

Thank you for the offer!  I may take you up on the offer. I need to get the coastal crud out of the body and wire up the original firebox to see what the clearance is from the bottom of the body to the bottom of the firebox. I'd feel bad if the feet were too tall or too short! If things thaw out here in a few days I'll see if I can scrape out the now frozen gunk!
 
Not busy ..so I found them and took a pic..

Two inches wide..three long and the decks are 3/4 of an inch tall..

 
Last edited:
Not busy ..so I found them and took a pic..

Two inches wide..three long and the decks are 3/4 of an inch tall..

Craig,

I think just looking at what I have those are probably too short. There's a bunch of frozen stuff on the pieces of the firebox that I need to get off  so I can wire it up. I'll find a tub and see if I can defrost it and clean it up enough to wire it together. I'd just throw it in the tub but my Fiance already thinks I'm crazy!
 
Last night I couldn't wait any longer so I took the bottom piece of the firebox and put it in a bucket of water to defrost it and get the coastal crud off of it. The top side was covered with crud. The bottom wasn't and I could see three fracture lines. Well sure enough they went all the way through. Once the gunk thawed and came off, the piece separated into three pieces. So the bottom of the firebox is three pieces and the side of the fire box is in two pieces! Not sure that wiring it together is going to work. Especially since there is no support at the bottom...


Three pieces of the bottom


They fit together nicely! Zip ties anyone???
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