What do you do the night of a full-weekend motorsports event’s first night, or when it’s sunny out, or when the day of the week ends in “y”? You fire up the grill. However, what if you want your barbecue to be car-themed but don’t own an old Land Rover? Japanese aftermarket exhaust company Fujitsubo, maker of some pretty tasty systems, has just branched out into grills. Not grilles, grills. Hell yeah.
It should go without saying that people have been cooking over fire pretty much ever since they figured out how to make fire. It’s a tradition in all cultures, a true unifier of people. More than that, it’s a damn good time from the spectacle to the taste to the communal aspect of it all, and you can make a barbecue out of just about everything that won’t burn easily. Even muffler parts.
Let’s take a closer look at the standard model from the lineup that Fujitsubo’s calling Smith SUSono. How you react to that product name depends entirely on how much brainrot you’ve been consuming. The body of the barbecue is literally half a muffler casing, complete with crimped seams for end plates. Exhaust flanges serve both as handles and as perfect places for legs to bolt onto, and the legs themselves look like exhaust hangers. Even the grate for the charcoal is perforated sheet, like you’d find wrapped into tubes inside mufflers.
Photo credit: Fujitsubo
Put it all together, and I can’t help but get the sense that this isn’t some merchandising exercise but instead the process of taking something cool and using it to build something entirely different but equally cool.
Photo credit: Fujitsubo
In case you want something bigger than a compact cooking surface big enough for a pair of pork chops or a pair of fish, Fujitsubo offers several different sizes of barbecue: Standard, wide, and long, all made out of the sort of 304 stainless steel you’d expect to be used for a quality catback exhaust. Sure, they aren’t exactly cheap compact charcoal grills, but they aren’t hideously expensive either. Pricing ranges from ¥18,480 to ¥21,780, or about $126 to $149 at current conversion rates. That’s not bad in the grand scheme of things, and then there are the accessories.
Photo credit: Fujitsubo
Check this out, it’s a steamer that looks exactly like a muffler, exhaust tip to vent steam and all. The casing even features similar stamping as you get on certain Fujitsubo exhaust systems, adding street cred to your veggies and dumplings. Admittedly, at $184.35 at current conversion rates, it’s seriously expensive for a steamer, but it’s also whimsical.
Photo credit: Fujitsubo
Oh, and Futjitsubo doesn’t just manufacture exhaust systems out of stainless steel. You can probably tell where this is going. Yep, that’s a titanium pan that weighs a mere 3.9 ounces. Now, titanium is an expensive metal, and it doesn’t have the thermal capacity of stainless steel, but it is bio-compatible, and $34 or so for a titanium pan is kinda nifty, even if better cookware materials are available.
Screenshot: Fujitsubo
At the end of the day, while Fujitsubo’s lineup of outdoor cooking stuff isn’t quite as practical as a propane camping stove or as cheap as a no-name compact charcoal grille, it’s fun. I love that each grille is hand-welded, uses real exhaust parts, and is a bit nerdy without being a complete posturing exercise. Plus, I’ve seen Fujitsubo exhaust systems from the ’90s still being used, so there’s some confidence in perceived longevity here. Just like how OEM filter supplier Mann makes coffee filters, this offshoot feels perfectly on-brand, and it’s something I’d unironically rock.
Top graphic credit: Fujitsubo
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