Oh. Wow.

A while back I found a photo of a barbecue grill housed in a casket and was dismayed because there were no other photos or information about it. Fabulous commenter Fiend4Halloween just pointed me to a version that’s not only much nicer, it also includes build instructions. Check out this awesomeness.

The creator is lime3D, a self-described “Inventor for Hire,” who built the grill for tailgating parties with the Nightmare Cruisers Hearse Club. The modified casket and accessories are fairly heavy, so part of the project involved refurbishing a trailer to tow the grill behind his hearse. I would enjoy seeing that driving down the road.

The casket mod is really well-done, with half of the interior housing the grill and the other half an insulated cooler. There’s storage space between the two for tools and utensils, and the storage lid doubles as a cutting board. He even installed a radio in the exterior.

Now, obviously, this is a project that requires some fairly advanced skills and tools, so it’s beyond the scope of a lot of us DIY types. However, if you’ve got the necessary experience (or can obtain the services of a welder and/or carpenter), this would be an amazing build opportunity. If you aren’t the tailgating type, mount it on a stand in your yard.

The maker answers some additional questions in the comments section, such as where to obtain a casket. U.S. law makes it fairly easy to purchase them from a third-party source; Wal-Mart sells them, as does Amazon. If those options aren’t available to you (or are too expensive), check with local funeral homes for damaged products. You’re going to rip out the whole interior anyway, and an exterior dent or two shouldn’t matter much. If you don’t want to bother with the cooler half of the project, a child-size or pet casket (why they make steel caskets for pets is another question entirely) should be significantly cheaper and could house just the grill.

(Thanks, Fiend4Halloween!)