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From: Steve Wurdock
City: Royal Oak, MI
E-Mail: stevenw837@aol.com
Date: 08 Mar 1999
Time: 15:15:24
I believe what you have is from when Ford Motor Co. made charcoal. My grndfather, Carl Wurdock, worked for Ford Motor and was in their "by-products" division. He sold charcoal all over the US and Canada. The charcoal was a "by-product" from some other part of Ford's manufacturing process. I think possibly it came from the wood scraps back when Ford made cars with wood paneling.
Back in the early days most people had large BBQ pits on their yards on which they did their grilling. My grandfather came up with the idea to manufacture small portable grills. He hoped this would encourage people that did not have the big pits to try the charcoal grilling process and therby increase overall demand for charcoal. Well it worked!
I am working with a historian at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI to help supply them more info on my Grandfather and what work he did in this area while at Ford. My grandfather helped build the charcoal plant in Michigan's upper pennisula - Kingsford MI. This is the Kingsford charcoal.
Questions -What part of the country (state) did you find this grill? Is there a year or address printed on the box?
I have no idea of what it may be worth to a collector - I have never seen one. I would be interested in buying it from you though. I have quite a few other interesting momentos from my grandfather career, mostly correspondence, pictures and advertising pieces. If you have a scanner maybe you could take a picture and email me it.
Would like to learn more.
Best Regards,
Steve Wurdock Royal Oak, MI 48073
Thanks for your posting.
Best regards,
Steve Wurdock