Vintage Weber Grill Catalog

My friend Dan Marquerite, owner of the awesome Backyard Barbecue Store in Wilmette, showed me this awesome catalog a few months ago and kindly lent it to me so I could scan it. If you're a fan of Webers, you'll probably enjoy perusing it as much as I did . . .
























You gotta love that Sequoia.

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Backyard Barbecue Store
1147 Greenleaf Ave
Wilmette, IL 60091
(847) 251-2272

I wish I owned a Penthouse when I lived in my condo!

stevez wrote:I wish I owned a Penthouse when I lived in my condo!

And at $34.95, a real bargain!

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Me, I'd go for the Fireplace Barbecue Kettle -- be nice for winter grilling in the comfort of one's living room.

I am coveting the Westerner. I even have some plates I bought at a flea market that match.

The guys on the front cover are cracking me up.
I'd like one or two of the elevated half-grills for $4.95/ea, please.

I believe the man on the left is George Stephen, inventor of the kettle grill. Check out this model: http://www.weber.com/assets/images/grilltimeline9.jpg

d4v3 wrote:I believe the man on the left is George Stephen, inventor of the kettle grill. Check out this model: http://www.weber.com/assets/images/grilltimeline9.jpg

I was struck by the cover too: 2 senior men in the forground, looking like they have something to do with the company for sure. Notice the two handsome, model-like young men in the background, around the Sequoia.

The Penthouse is interesting to me for several reasons. The gill-adjuster, 1 central vent with a long handle, became standard later on. I have a 14" with that, conventional in every other way. Mine does not have the ash-catcher, although I've seen that feature on conventional wheeled tripod models. Mine came with the clamps, resembling hose clamps, to hold the ash tray, which on my 22" is a flat-bottomed pan resembling a 49'er's gold-mining pan, not the deep wok-like affair shown in this catalogue. Many I've seen, in every size, have those hooked cut-outs on the circumference of the pan to hold it to the legs beneath the vents. I'm guessing that was the earlier form but don't know.

I'm also interested in the Penthouse's "deep dome." It resembles the one on a Smoky Mountain, although the SM's can't be used with a 14" grill despite the matching diameter because both dome and kettle on the Smoky Mountain are male, with the flanges for both top and bottom section joints being on the parallel-sided riser mid-section--you could enable these substitutions by fabricating a flange piece. You could also use that piece to make a deep grill from the smoky mountain's top and bottom sections. The fireplace grill would be easy with existing components: bottom of Smoky mountain, top of 14" grill, except for no flanges or brackets to hold the food grill up; you'd have to make them.

The Penthouse promotional shot shows a turkey, an obvious candidate for a deep dome. I've always assumed the flatter conventional dome--a shape replicated in every size down to the Smoky Joe--is derived from the shape of the original buoy, as it would tend to make it float rightside up were the two pieces welded tight together, but I really don't know.

Wow! I'm amazed that they've carried many of the same basic accessories for so long. For some reason I thought many of the racks and such were recent additions to the product line.

ronnie_suburban wrote:You gotta love that Sequoia.

That's definitely a great one, but I'd have to go with the Seville with an Avocado grill. They just don't make them like that anymore, with good reason

I work for a downstate university and the family of one of our alums was partners in the company that Weber Grills grew out of. I think the original company was Weber Brothers and White Metalworks. They made spun metal items and, if memory serves, ornamental metalwork.

He told me that the spun metal shapes were originally used as buoy markers in lakes and rivers - a weld down the centerline providing both added rigidity and waterproofing. An enterprising and inventive employee devised the idea to use the two halves for cooking/grilling at some point.

This is an oral history, to be sure, and I make no claims for veracity!

Davooda

Here's a little Weber history.

http://www.weber.com/weber/story

My parents have a 26" Weber. It looks like the Westerner, but solid brown, a great color choce for the 70's. About 40 years old, and the thing is still going strong. Several years back I brought it to a Bears game for some tailgating. This was before Weber brought that size grill out of retirement, and the largest kettle you could buy was 22". It attracted a small fan club of fellow tailgaters. I lost the grate in the lot, and the Weber hotline folks were able to replace it, even though they hadn't made that size grill in decades.

Quality product. You just don't see many products that last a lifetime anymore. The cover shot makes me want to grill a ham in a Hawaiian shirt.

MelT wrote:My parents have a 26" Weber. It looks like the Westerner, but solid brown, a great color choce for the 70's. About 40 years old, and the thing is still going strong. Several years back I brought it to a Bears game for some tailgating. This was before Weber brought that size grill out of retirement, and the largest kettle you could buy was 22". It attracted a small fan club of fellow tailgaters. I lost the grate in the lot, and the Weber hotline folks were able to replace it, even though they hadn't made that size grill in decades.

Quality product. You just don't see many products that last a lifetime anymore. The cover shot makes me want to grill a ham in a Hawaiian shirt.

I am also using my Parent's old Weber from the 1970s. The only problem I had was the old wooden handle on the cover had decayed. Then one morning after a bad windstorm, I found the cover of a Weber in my backyard. It was the right size and color. I asked around the condo building next door and nobody was missing one, so I figured it was a gift from the god of grilling, and a sign that I should grill more often.

d4v3 wrote:I figured it was a gift from the god of grilling, and a sign that I should grill more often.

That, and bungee down the cover, like I had to do when I lived in the afore mentioned condo.

ronnie_suburban wrote:If you're a fan of Webers, you'll probably enjoy perusing it as much as I did . . .

Thanks so much for posting this! I'm a huge Weber fan and really enjoy seeing stuff like this.

If any LTHForum members or readers ever stumble across more vintage Weber catalogs, I'd be interested in seeing them. I've got a collection of catalogs that I'm putting together online and would love to add more.

Best regards,
Chris

Chris Allingham wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:If you're a fan of Webers, you'll probably enjoy perusing it as much as I did . . .

Thanks so much for posting this! I'm a huge Weber fan and really enjoy seeing stuff like this.

If any LTHForum members or readers ever stumble across more vintage Weber catalogs, I'd be interested in seeing them. I've got a collection of catalogs that I'm putting together online and would love to add more.

Best regards,
Chris

Chris's website, which is a great one that many here already know, can be found here:

The Virtual Weber Bulletin Board

Thanks, Chris, for devotedly fanning the embers of Weber love!

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Back in the late 60s and 70s my father would have meetings with a couple of the coatings people at weber on a regular basis. Surprisingly the coatings weber used were also applicable on printed circuit epoxy and ceramic substrates.

My other weber story was in the 70's (as I recall) Dad hired an engineer who had to be relocated from London. The man had to do a special order since a weber grill was not available in his area. He wanted one for a going away party with an American theme. When he got here his temporary apartment overlooked the weber facility in Arlington Heights. He walked in to tell them about his very expensive grill (shipped to England, moved back to the states) and the folks were good sports and gave him every accessory made at the time. I still have dad's grill with me and it has been moved all over the country.

As my Weber 1-Touch Performer approaches its 25th birthday, I have to say that there aren't many companies out there that are more of an easy pleasure to deal with than Weber. Their products last. Their customer service is exceptional. Their agents are knowledgeable and friendly, and their policies are kind beyond belief.

Earlier this week I ordered a part, which is configured differently today than when my grill was purchased. They included, at their expense, all the additional parts that were needed to get things up to spec. After the shipment arrived -- a mere 1 day after I ordered it -- I realized that I had ordered incompletely. No problem. More additional parts were sent to me entirely gratis. This above-and-beyond service and their exceptional, durable products are the reasons I wouldn't even consider buying a grill from any other company in the future. I'm feeling incredibly loyal toward Weber.

I wish every other company I dealt with were even half this good.

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