Weber grills were never inexpensive, but they still sold millions of them.
You should really read this it is more than interesting. This here is my favorite part. Also I'll put a link in here to the whole write-up.
www.weber.com
You should really read this it is more than interesting. This here is my favorite part. Also I'll put a link in here to the whole write-up.
Class Of´85: The Creators Of The Genesis | Behind the Grill | Weber Grills
THIS YEAR MARKS 30 YEARS SINCE WEBER LAUNCHED GENESIS – the gas grill which revolutionized barbecuing like the kettle grill did 33 years earlier.
As things began to fall into place, Mike named the grill ‘Genesis’, which means creation in Greek. He had a vague feeling that they were on to something big, and that this was the perfect name for the new invention. In 1984, Genesis was ready to be presented to dealers at the McCormick Place, and Mike, in particular was nervous. They had invested a lot in the project – and now it was time to see if it would prevail.
“The interesting thing about the whole process was that we didn’t go after a specific retail price. We said ‘We’re gonna make a really great gas barbecue that’s worthy of the Weber name and whatever it sells for – that’s what it sells for,” Mike says.
“Not telling that to Dad was probably the smartest thing you did,” laughs Jim.
“Well … I figured that if we had something really revolutionary, that really would make consumers happy – then we’d figure out a way to sell it. That may be a crazy way to go about it, but that’s what we did.”
Yet the air was thick with apprehension as it came time for the curtain to fall. An average gas grill cost 100-129 dollars at the time, and Genesis had a retail price of 400 dollars. How would the dealers react?
“At the hardware show we’d take them through the story and they were impressed with it. And then we’d come to the ultimate question ‘Well, how much is it gonna sell for?’ and you’d see their face just drop when we’d say 400 dollars. And they’d say ‘Well, I don’t think it will ever sell.’ But they said one other thing: ‘Do you have some sort of special deal where we can get one for ourselves’. So Jim and I looked at each other and we knew that we had something right going on,” Mike says with a grin.
This reaction was not very different to the one George Stephen encountered back when he presented the kettle grill, so it would take more than that to alarm the team. They set a goal of selling 36,000 models in the first year, and invested lots of energy and resources in achieving this. A brand-new production line was developed so they could eliminate faults, and a teaser campaign was used to inform consumers that Weber had something square on the drawing board for the 1985 season. They reached the goal – 36,000 units were sold.
“And not one of them came back,” Jim adds.
Do you have any 1000 parts? I feel like you have practically at least one full grill worth of parts?
I have a lot of parts. The problem is quality over quantity, and quality is getting harder to find. I'm not a junk man, meaning I'm not going to pick up lots of grills that I have to disassemble and hide somewhere so my neighbors don't call on me and they would. Maybe that didn't come out right, everyone is in a different situation. Everything I get needs to have a purpose, a beginning and an end. The end is that I have a really nice grill that I might keep or sell.
What I was getting at is maybe I can help you if there's a certain part or parts you need in top condition if you have the majority of what you already need
Thank you. Yeah, I will for sure have the majority of what I need. I have picked up a parts grill here and there out of necessity, but I need to keep that to a minimum. The town I live in sends people out to look for things that are unsightly in your yard and what not along with nosy neighbors that won't hesitate to call on you as well. I wouldn't hesitate to reach out to you if I needed a specific part to finish one of my projects, and you can do the same with me.
Appreciate that very much Steve! My neighborhood is the same way but the way my yard is fenced in nobody can see what I got going on on the inside LOL. Directly behind my back fence is protected land thick forest. In Arizona I'm pretty much maxed out at two grills. I would never want to clutter my yard there with grills like I do in Washington. I would like to buy my neighbor's house in Arizona though. Gut out the interior and make it into a shop.
The way my yard is I can only tuck in a couple of grills before it's super noticeable. Every thing else is in the garage. I have a shed but that's packed with crap too. I have two grills in the garage that are currently my museum pieces and room for one or two more.Appreciate that very much Steve! My neighborhood is the same way but the way my yard is fenced in nobody can see what I got going on on the inside LOL. Directly behind my back fence is protected land thick forest. In Arizona I'm pretty much maxed out at two grills. I would never want to clutter my yard there with grills like I do in Washington. I would like to buy my neighbor's house in Arizona though gut out the interior and make it into a shop.
I think so. Like I said, quality over quantity. Not only that, I can't let a grill sit for very long without tearing into it. I guess it's one of my weaknesses so it's good that I don't have room for too many. I would spend way too much time working on them.
If only I had more time. When I'm retired I will be plenty busy. I have no doubt about that. Or let's say at least I will never be bored
I hear you. I'm looking forward to being able to spend more time doing this too.
I am glad someone did the math on that... I was curious what that is in today money
Were you ever a super-flipper and have moved to the more targeted approach of finding good quality over quantity? Obviously I am newer to this, so I am just curious to see if this condition has hope for subsiding... lol, however I also think that the number of these free and super cheap finds are dwindling, and will only continue to do so.
I got laid off during COVID and was in the middle of remodeling my master bathroom when some of the things I had ordered for the job got delayed also due to COVID. I was looking around for something else to do in the meantime and decided to pay some attention to my old Genesis 1000 grill. I started looking online for as many new parts as I could find which led me to this site. I still needed a grill to cook on while I restored mine so I went out and got another one. Since then I have gotten a few here and there but I don't let it get out of hand. I enjoy restoring them and admiring my work when I'm done. Yes, I will flip one occasionally as it justifies me having more than one grill laying around. I can always tell my wife that I'm planning on selling them.
