I had a really hard time parting way with this grill. I purchased a Weber in 1997 shortly after purchasing this house. A friend once told me, a Weber is the last grill you buy.
After about 7 years it needed new burners and heat defectors, I replaced with SS parts. Those never needed replacing again.
About 5 years ago the base started to fall apart with rust, the grill itself was fine so I kept using it. Last year my wife was on my case to just let it go, but it worked fine!! The base was getting bad, I hatched a plan to build an outdoor kitchen to throw the grill on.
Reality hit, I am too busy with my day job to do that.
So I went to buy another Weber to replace it. Red flag.. it was the same price at Home Depot. How could that be? 24+ years later same price, does not compute.
I happened upon a Grill store and saw a modern Weber all rusted out in front, I asked the owner what was up with that? He informed me Weber is now made in China and not American made anymore, they also cheaped out on the entire grill and it just does not hold up. He said he stopped carrying them due to the lack of quality.
He carries Napoleon Grills, American made 15 year warranty. A comparable grill to my Weber was about $200 more. Which made sense to me. I told him I would think about it and come back. Then I thought, I have not bought a gas grill since 1997 I am going to not only get a better one, but upgrade too. So I purchased one almost $600 more then my 1997 Weber and I LOVE that grill.
So long my good friend, you served me well, thousands of meals cooked on you, supported us through 3 hurricanes when power was out. You served us well, I dragged it to the cub after this pic, it was gone in 2 hours. I had a really hard time tossing this grill, it actually sat in my back yard for 2 weeks because I did not want to just toss it.
Getting used to the new tool. It has a little learning curve but I am getting the hang of it and damn, I am really getting to love this new grill. The side burner hits 1800° in 30 seconds, amazing tool to sear your steaks with.
I never imagined throwing away an inanimate object would be so hard to do.