MOUNT VERNON – A project over two years in the making will finally hit the streets on Saturday, and it will be going home with the highest bidder.
The ‘Car-B-Q,’ a state-of-the-art tailgate grill, will be auctioned off at the Food for the Hungry drive at Knox County Memorial Theatre. The live auction begins at 1:06 p.m., in the middle of the day-long food drive that will provide The Salvation Army and Interchurch Social Services with truckloads of food and funds to assist those in need.
The trailer was created by 15 Knox County Career Center collision and repair students, who thought of the idea in instructor Tim Hall’s class. Hall said his students thought of the idea two-and-a-half years ago and finished the product last spring. Since then, it has been on display at First Fridays, the Knox County Fair, parades and other major public events around the area.
“It’s made appearances quite a few places,” Hall said, laughing.
The product is essentially a tailgate on wheels. Hall and his students took the front half of a 1968 Pontiac GTO and installed a six-burner, stainless steel charbroil grill under the hood, flanked by a side burner. There is a homemade, wood-fired smoker on the rails behind that, and a large flat-top griddle in the rear. The grill and griddle are both propane-fired.
“It’s altogether self-contained – propane bottles, everything,” Hall told Marcy Rinehart of WNZR last week. “You just hitch it up to pretty much any vehicle, unless it’s a really small front-wheel drive. The grill’s not heavy.”
The Car-B-Q trailer has a two-inch ball hitch and a seven-round connector, allowing it to be plugged into “anything that has a hitch and a trailer connector,” Hall added.
The students constructed the entire trailer themselves – they designed, framed, welded, cut and measured every inch. For a finishing touch, they painted clear-coat flames on the exterior.
“It actually looks like half a car that’s on fire,” Hall chuckled.
Those interested can bid on the tailgate trailer online at Food for the Hungry’s website. As of Monday afternoon, the highest bid was $1,100. At the drive on Saturday, the highest online bid will become the floor bid for the live auction. Those who can’t attend the auction in person can bid online or over the phone. All proceeds will go to Food for the Hungry.
Hall said the best part about the Car-B-Q trailer is that it allows people to cook mass amounts of food quickly and conveniently.
“We’ve used it on different occasions to feed people, and you can literally feed hundreds of people at one time with this grill,” Hall said. “You can have three different workstations and cooking stations going at the same time.”
The trailer will be on display Saturday at Memorial Theatre until the afternoon auction, Hall said. People can also see the car, which is being stored in the Career Center’s collision repair lab, if they enter the school and obtain a visitor’s pass.
Hall said that after a year of planning and hard work, his students are excited about auctioning the car off on Saturday.
“I think to begin with, it was a little hard to envision. Because we had half a car and we worked on it for months – prepping, getting everything ready to paint – and it’s hard to imagine what it’s all going to be until it’s together,” Hall said of the Car-B-Q trailer.
“We didn’t really do a drawing, we built our frame to the size of all the utensils we wanted to put in and we actually moved them around two or three times until we got the best fit. It actually works really well the way it’s set up right now.”
Bigger than the auction however, is the sense of benevolence that Hall and his students have felt from creating a product for a good cause. Hall told WNZR that he was proud of his young students for their caring mindset.
“You know, as young people, we’re more used to taking than giving. They worked really hard to accomplish these projects, to earn the funds to build this,” Hall said. “Over two or three years they did a lot of work to come up with the money to buy new tires and wheels and axles and all the different parts that make this. So it definitely instills a sense of giving in them.”
Other auction items
The Career Center will be auctioning off several themed gift baskets along with the Car-B-Q trailer at Saturday’s drive.
Like the trailer, people can bid on these items online now. However, there will not be a live auction for the baskets this year; by 3 p.m. Saturday, the online auction will close and the winners will be announced.
The Career Center has sponsored four baskets, valued between $1,200 and $2,500. They feature the following themes: wedding ($2,500 value), auto care ($1,500 value), moms night out ($1,200 value) and vacation ($1,200 value).
There are a variety of items and services featured in each basket; some are donated by the Career Center and others are donated by local businesses. Career Center faculty and students sought out donated gift items from local merchants in order to beef up the baskets and support the drive.
There is also an Ohio State basket, sponsored by the Knox County OSU Alumni Club, which is valued at $200. The basket includes an autographed picture of Nick Vannett, a tight end for the Buckeyes from 2010-2015, who currently plays for the Seattle Seahawks. It also includes insulated cups, t-shirts, magnets, notepads and other OSU gear.
The wedding basket includes everything from discounts at local reception venues to day-long photography services. The auto care basket has auto shop gift cards, free oil change coupons and a variety of car-related discount items. The moms night out basket features free movie theater tickets, manicure and pedicure discounts and various gift cards. The vacation basket offers oil change coupons, family YMCA memberships and a free weekend getaway at a local campground.
Career Center Principal John Feltman told WNZR that winning a basket could potentially simplify holiday shopping, given the extensive array of gifts in each basket.
“There are all kinds of options in the basket; you may like some yourself, keep those, and then give (some) to family members and other people,” Feltman said. “It makes your Christmas shopping really, really easy – just buy one basket.”
Centerburg and Danville will host their own silent auctions on Saturday as well. The Centerburg silent auction, held in the lobby of the Centerburg branch of First-Knox National Bank, features Christmas wreaths. The Danville silent auction, held in the lobby of the Danville branch of First-Knox National Bank, includes Christmas trees, wreaths, and other Christmas decor.
Bidding for both auctions closes at noon on Saturday.
Food for the Hungry is in its 37th year, as it began in 1982 as a drive to benefit Interchurch Social Services and The Salvation Army. All food and revenue donations to FFTH stay in Knox County and continue to benefit those two agencies.
FFTH also makes $20,000 available each year for other non-profits which distribute food to the needy, and welcomes grant applications for up to $2,000 per organization. Grant recipients will be announced at Saturday’s drive. Last year, FFTH raised over $240,000 and collected over 28 truckloads of food.
Hall, who has been involved with Food for the Hungry for “at least 15 years,” noted the importance of giving at a young age. He’s emphasized this to his students, who have spent countless hours contributing to the cause.
“I guess for me, I want the students to have that same feeling that I feel when I give,” Hall said.
“It’s different, especially when it’s not someone you’re going to see. You’re not going to receive praise for it. It’s a donation to someone that you’ll never meet, but you still get that great feeling inside, that you’ve helped someone else. And I’d like for the students to be able to experience that in their lives also.”
Saturday’s drive will be broadcast live on WMVO 1300AM and 100.9FM, and will be streamed on mvnu.tv. The winning bidders for all auctions will be announced at 3:30 p.m. during the broadcast.
