Vintage OK Joe's age

[69HemiGTX]

Howdy y'all! I have a vintage OK Joe's Ranger, but I'm confused about its age. It has a low serial number of 10729, which leads me to believe it's pretty old. The location of the vertical cook chamber door is on the side, not the front, which I've never seen on another one. What's perplexing is the tag. The logo shows the door on the front. Plus, my tag's letters and logo are just painted. Most original tags that I've seen have both etched and painted letters. I've tried contacting Horizon (even in person), but they were no help. The best I got from them was that it made no later than 1992. Any replies would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cowboyupbbq]

Did you ask Roger at Horizon, or customer service?

 

[69HemiGTX]

I believe I talked to Roger when I went to pick up my convection plate. All he could pin down was 1992 because mine originally had rods welded across the cook chamber, which he said they stopped doing at that time.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

The tag is one from an original OK Joe made in Perry Oklahoma.
Other signs to look for are
...is the fire box welded on or bolted? Bolts indicate it was shipped from overseas. AKA Horizon.
...Are the handles welded all around or just in spots/stiches. The originals are fully welded.

Somewhere I have an article explaining the differences and the reasons. But I can't seem to find it.

 

[69HemiGTX]

It's definitely an original. It's fully welded, 1/4" thick, and over 600 lbs.