Broil King relic


 
Those Broil Kings were a good grill in their day, they had a 40,00 BTU bow tie burner that particular grill would have had lava rocks as apposed to flavorizer bars but could be converted. The grills had lots of heat 600F+ and cooked a great steak only downfall they had were prone to flare ups .
 
Back in the day all the grills were made on the same formula. Heavy cast aluminum fire box, a flame control of some type (lava rocks, ceramic briquettes, etc) a dual high heat burner, lid prop and varying types of rack arrangements. It's why when the "real" Genesis showed up it really was a "Genesis" (or a new beginning) rather than the same old same old formula of grill building there had existed for the previous 30 or 40+ years. My father in law bought a home in Richfield MN in the late 50s. part of the suburban expansion we saw so much of back then. It was brand new. The builder had installed a copper gas line behind the back door and a post mounted Warm Morning grill was set right in the concrete.
But Weber changed all that with the Genesis. Now? They're back to doing the same formula everyone else does.
 
Good history, there, Larry. The thing about the newer Webers is that along with giving up on the classic E-W 3 burner configuration, they also are slipping on the rugged construction. I doubt you will see any of the current crop sitting in someone's yard 30 years from now. Of course, in fairness to Weber, they are hammered by rising costs all the way around and competing with cheap, flimsy grills with shiny, fake stainless that fill the lots of the big box stores. Their customers today have no intentions of using a grill 30 years or probably even 10 years. Weber is just giving people what they want, unfortunately not for people like many of us.
 
LMichaels said:
Back in the day all the grills were made on the same formula. Heavy cast aluminum fire box, a flame control of some type (lava rocks, ceramic briquettes, etc) a dual high heat burner, lid prop and varying types of rack arrangements. It's why when the "real" Genesis showed up it really was a "Genesis" (or a new beginning) rather than the same old same old formula of grill building there had existed for the previous 30 or 40+ years. My father in law bought a home in Richfield MN in the late 50s. part of the suburban expansion we saw so much of back then. It was brand new. The builder had installed a copper gas line behind the back door and a post mounted Warm Morning grill was set right in the concrete.
But Weber changed all that with the Genesis. Now? They're back to doing the same formula everyone else does.
Click to expand...
I grew up in North Jersey...15 miles or so West of NYC. Our house was probably built around 1915 or so. My father had the plumber run a gas line out the basement wall, under a concrete sidewalk and about 12" in from the sidewalk, he had a NG Charmglow which was pretty much what you described.
 
Around 1974-75 my parents had a new brick patio installed. One of the things they put in was a built in charcoal BBQ. Don't remember who made it but it was rectangular and really only had the front panel and lid - the rest being a frame designed to sit in the brickwork.

Dad didn't like the built in grill at all and quickly brought home an Arkla gas grill. Like Larry described it had a heavy cast aluminum box and a dual range burner (that, if I recall, was actually one piece but fed from two valves). It had lava rocks - and, now and then, spectacular flare-ups.

The Arkla was a very well built and heavy grill. It lasted more than three decades out in the weather (granted we put in several burners over its life). Although the round post and X shaped frame (base) had surface rusted a little it was still totally solid and would have been an easy restoration. Sadly, it was replaced and disposed of somewhere around 2010 - before I was interested in antique grills.
 
Yep Arkla was another well known name. They also made gas lamps. Which at one time were all the rage for outdoor lighting
 
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