1982 Weber Dealer Product Catalog
Thanks to TVWBB member @Jon Tofte and our friends at the Weber Kettle Grill Giants Facebook Group for sharing this 1982 Weber Dealer Product Catalog. It's a 24-page, full-color, glossy brochure that highlights Weber products and accessories for 1982. It also mentions plans to expand television advertising on major networks across the United States to help get customers into Weber dealer stores.
A few things really stand out to me about this catalog:
"Smokey Mt. Cooker, the big market test success of 1981, gets a second size and price point for 1982, plus all the TV support needed to pre-sell it to your customers!"
Unfortunately, history shows that the Model 1880 was not a success and it was discontinued in 1984. When I met Weber engineer Erich Schlosser in 2008, the man who designed the original WSM, he said of the Model 1880, “I don’t think the marketing folks promoted it very well.” Not until 2014 did Weber bring back this 14.5" cooker.
Enjoy!
Chris

Thanks to TVWBB member @Jon Tofte and our friends at the Weber Kettle Grill Giants Facebook Group for sharing this 1982 Weber Dealer Product Catalog. It's a 24-page, full-color, glossy brochure that highlights Weber products and accessories for 1982. It also mentions plans to expand television advertising on major networks across the United States to help get customers into Weber dealer stores.
A few things really stand out to me about this catalog:
- The cover features the now-famous photo of Weber founder George Stephen wearing a tuxedo and posing with the iconic red Weber kettle.
- On the inside cover, there's a photo of a very young Mike Kempster with George Stephen. I'm not sure of Mike's position was with the company at that time, but was Executive Vice President for many years.
- The Weber One-Touch kettle is said to be "the sales story of 1982" for dealers.
- I did not know that Weber sold knives, but newly designed ones were introduced in 1982.
"Smokey Mt. Cooker, the big market test success of 1981, gets a second size and price point for 1982, plus all the TV support needed to pre-sell it to your customers!"
Unfortunately, history shows that the Model 1880 was not a success and it was discontinued in 1984. When I met Weber engineer Erich Schlosser in 2008, the man who designed the original WSM, he said of the Model 1880, “I don’t think the marketing folks promoted it very well.” Not until 2014 did Weber bring back this 14.5" cooker.
Enjoy!
Chris
