Summit C4 $200


 
I

IanG

New member
E996A361-232F-47FC-8C47-E953A5D22F0F.jpeg54F14BB3-88FD-41DC-B2E4-9EB5408A47D9.jpeg17EEDC8B-49F7-47E0-9B3A-4F2DDF600859.jpegHope you all can help. Someone posted this Summit Gold C4 around my area for $200. After reading the forums here a little it seems like it might be a money pit. I haven’t gone to look at it yet but the ignitor is broken. Can’t make out the state of the firebox from these photos. Seems like it might be more trouble than it’s worth. There’s a newer genesis 330s available for $175 with two tanks of gas. I might go for that instead.

What should I do?
 
Do yourself a favor and forget you even saw it. That generation of Summit is as bad as they get. My brother has one. Honestly it's mostly junk
 
While I don’t agree that they are”Mostly Junk” the poorly designed cookbox is it’s Achilles Heel, aside from that, IMO they are well constructed. Unfortunately the lack of crucial parts availability has rendered many to the junk pile.
 
Compared to the 1st gen Summit they are VERY poorly built. Very rickety not at all solid compared to the older ones. That and the price differential along with the general "cheapening" (stamped grates, poorly designed burner and flavorizer system, wobbly frame and so on) drove me to buy a 1st generation Summit rather than spring for the 2nd gen. Sadly with the 3rd and present gen Summits Weber did not do anything to improve upon the relatively poor build quality choosing instead to only further complicate the grills. But even the 1st gen as good as it was has that goofy stamped steel fire box.
 
Bill Pudim said:
While I don’t agree that they are”Mostly Junk” the poorly designed cookbox is it’s Achilles Heel, aside from that, IMO they are well constructed. Unfortunately the lack of crucial parts availability has rendered many to the junk pile.
Click to expand...
Weren't you working on a Summit, Bill? Did you ever get it finished? I don't remember seeing a final reveal.
 
I guess I agree that the 1st generation Summit was a pinnacle creation by Weber. Very rugged and high craftsmanship - except as Larry says those stupid porcelain steel center sections of the firebox. I am slowly working on one and hope to make it my main grill by this summer.

I haven't had the opportunity to closely inspect a 2nd generation Summit, but I find the Platinum 6 burner like Bill's to be appealing. It was perhaps a drop in ruggedness but it brought rear infrared and in the Platinum version real stainless steel cart and cabinetry. Why they repeated their mistake in firebox design I don't know.

@Bill Pudim can you tell us more about the fabrication you did for your firebox? Maybe post closeup pictures to help explain? It is on my project list (behind a million honeydo's) to get something for my 1st generation Summit, so I would enjoy seeing how you approached this challenge.
 
Jon Tofte said:
I guess I agree that the 1st generation Summit was a pinnacle creation by Weber. [...] I haven't had the opportunity to closely inspect a 2nd generation Summit
Click to expand...
For those of us who've never seen either in person, how do you tell the difference between the 1st and 2nd Gen?
 
Grant Cunningham said:
For those of us who've never seen either in person, how do you tell the difference between the 1st and 2nd Gen?
Click to expand...
Both the 4-burner in the original post in this thread and the Platinum 6-burner posted after it are good examples of the 2nd generation Summits.

The first generation ones had an unusual look to them, with large, real stainless trays and condiment shelves. The hoods were tall and everything was extremely heavy duty. Taking one apart, I have been amazed at the solid construction and ample use of hardware. I personally LOVE the look, which is way better in my mind then the bland, all stainless (usually fake stainless) grills you see so often today.

This is a great thread where a member refurbished a 4-burner version:

tvwbb.com

Summit 450 - Rehab

Help!!! I just purchased a Summit 450 for $200. I thought I got a darn good deal! Until I took the cook box off the frame and I uncovered the back support almost completely rusted through. And the dang thing about it, is this is the only rust on the whole dang grill (minus the speed nuts on the...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com

Here is a cool advertisement for the original 1st generation Summit grills that we have here on our board:

tvwbb.com

1998 Weber Summit 4-Page Print Ad

https://tvwbb.com/docs/1998-weber-summit-4pagead.pdf "After testing our $3,000 gas grill, we detected one major flaw. Suddenly the word grill seems inadequate." 1998 was Year 2 for the Weber Summit gas grill lineup. Weber was big on text-heavy ads during this time period...no meat in sight, no...
tvwbb.com tvwbb.com

If someone is very interested I have a few reprints I had made on a full 11x17 sheet using glossy paper. PM me if you are.
 
Sam-TX said:
Damn. That 1st gen Summit does look amazing.
Click to expand...
Yeah, they were pretty amazing (well except the rusty fire box part). They were as close to a Vieluxe as you could get. They were amazing grilling machines. Basically they could keep the heat up even in cold weather, when gas grills usually begin to fall on their faces, they were quite versatile and did grill cooking very nicely. They just could not rotisserie worth a darn. Actually I can blame my Summit for beginning my multi-grill journey (addiction). Because when purchased the deal with wife was I would sell the original Genesis 2 Red Head I bought a few years earlier. (well more than a few LOL). Until we tried doing our first spun chicken on it. Tried a couple more things (thankfully had not sold the Genesis yet), was quite disappointed with results and stopped trying to sell the Genesis. That began the start of my "problem" :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top