First Elderly Grill


 

Erich B Meyer

New member
Picked up today what I believe is a 1997 Weber Genesis Platnium I 1200 NG, Serial #: EI 314690

Seems to be in good shape, fires up, some small rust spots on the frame, flavorizer bars and grill look to be in good shape. Durawood Ok, just a few "burn't pcs, no warming rack or basket, but other wise pretty good. Grease catch basket showing the most rust, plan to replace that first.

It appears that a previous "lover of everything Weber" painted the hood side panels, there appears to be over spray on the handle and the hood. What is the best way to remove the over spray without damaging the hood?

Questions:
- Curious, does the US model of this Grill also have "French" on the control panel?
- What is supposed to attach on the right side of the control panel, seems to be missing something
- Do the numbers after the year code mean anything?
- Is the Thermometer supposed to be easily removed and used to test what is being cooked, or is supposed to remain in place?
- How may years was the Platinum I made? Will check the Platinum II brochure to see if I can spot the changes. Have not found a Platinum I brochure only the owners Manuel.
- Changing the Durawood for real wood, good or bad idea?
- Why did Weber move away from the two tier flavorizer bars design? Cost or one layer works just as well?

Any tips, suggestions, or information most appreciated

Thanks Erich
 
Paint thinner to remove paint on hood. The hood coating is ceramic and won't be harmed by the paint thinner.
I can't remember any of the hundred Weber grills I have come across have any French on the control panel. You may have a French version grill as Weber sold grills in a lot of countries.
Right side of the control panel likely had screws holding the control panel in place
The numbers after the year code are simply a unique number for that grill. There is no further information to be gleaned from them. however, if the grill has never been registered, you can register it on Weber.com and it will allow you to download the manual and shematics for it. And that will tell you exactly what model and version grill you have.
The thermometer is designed to be able to be removed from the lid and used to test the temp of the meat you are cooking. Just make sure you don't try to remove it without some kind of protection on your fingers while the grill is hot. My suggestion is get a modern instant read meat thermometer and leave it in the lid.
Not sure how many years the platinum 1 was made.
Changing to real would is totally a preference type thing. Wood is very pretty if done right, but durawood is "durable".
I don't think there is an official publicized reason for weber to go from the deep fireboxes with two layers of flavo bars, but if you guessed cost, that would probably be an extremely accurate guess. Performance is widely considered better on the older deep fireboxes and two layers of flavo bars.

My suggestion is to do some perusing on the forum and check out some of the rehab threads and then get started on fixing that baby up so it is good for another 23 years.
 
Thank you Bruce and Chris. Very much appreciate the replies and information. Yes I am in Canada, so we expect to see both French and English on instructions. Was just wondering if they left it on for the USA models also. Will give paint thinner a try on the over spray. Did look through the brochures and advertisements in this site. Quite the collection, what a great resource. Did not see a Platinum I brochure. Amazes me on how many variations Weber had in the 90's. Will get the paint sorted out and then decide on the wood. Do you what year they changed to Durawood?

Some pics below
 

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I am in New England where we see items with English and French. I looked through 15 older control panels and they are all English
 
My Platinum I 1200LX is a 1998, so possibly there is some overlap, or maybe leftover inventory? Maybe that is why the squared corner lids of the x000 (13 bar) series were mated to the shallow (5 bar) fireboxes?
Yah, the way it looks to me is that that if Weber has a multi year run of essentially the same grill, they put a manual for it dated the first year it came out. So if a grill in 1998 was essentially the same grill as it's 1997 predecessor, they just use the manual from that first year of production (1997).
 
My experience is almost everything sold in the Canadian market is Eng/Fr. Frankly I think it's cool.
 

 

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