Carbecues – Man, Machinery, Meat and Memorial Day Fun [Video]
Carbecues are all the craze for car enthusiasts as the official start of grilling season commences this weekend. It’s Memorial Day and men around America will strap on the apron, clean off the grill and burn some beef. Maybe some chicken, fish, and veggies too. Memorial Day grilling brings out our inner caveman. While the better half wants nothing to do with lump charcoal and lighter fluid, we dudes stand united at the flame, tongs in the right hand, a cold one in the left. It is glorious.
In certain circles, outdoor grilling has intersected with high-performance. The genius of man is on full display with phenomena we will call “Carbecues.” Carbecuing only applies to the most advanced gear heads. Taking their grilling and wheeling skills up ten notches, these mad geniuses have managed to marry meat and machinery. It too is glorious. Kind of beyond glorious actually.
Back in 2014, Mobil One produced a video series titled “Extreme Grillers.” The feature of Jeff Zeigler and his son Jason caught our eye, mostly because they took a barn-find ’72 Chevy Nova and made a carbecue out of it for Jason’s high school project. It had all of the elements of car guydom – garage built father and son project, but above all, it married man, meat, and flame wrapped neatly in sweet muscle car guise. Bitchin!
Then there’s the story of British carbecuer Craig White. He did his meat-meets-car magic on a Mini Cooper. Also similar to the Zeiglers, White bonded with his father-in-law over the Cooper carbecue project. After the engine was removed, the car was sawed in half and affixed to the backyard wall. Genius! It doesn’t even matter for this article that the Brits don’t celebrate Memorial Day!
Finally, our carbecue world tour takes us to Brazil where the meat-hungry mechanics at Wolks Gruppe Garibaldi turned their rear-engine Volkswagen Brasilia into a crank start carbecue. The fore trunk area is where the grilling goes down. But it’s no ordinary grill. It slowly turns their meat on skewers just like those ads you see for Brazilian steak houses in airline magazines. The skewers are turned by wires and flywheels attached to the exterior of the vehicle. Sheer omnivore genius!
Meat and man have a relationship that goes back to the dawn of mankind. Whether it’s a holiday backyard charcoal session or a carbecue par excellence like these fellas, no matter how you grill you’re doing it, right men. It’s just that these guys are advanced artists at blending their passions.
Happy Memorial Day from everyone at Fuel Curve! Grill for the gusto.
