Weber Genesis Find

Howdy all. This weekend, I picked up a nice Weber Genesis 1. It is chocolate colored (rare?) and in really nice shape! For ten bucks, I didn't think I could go wrong. As I tore into this BBQ, I noticed it wasn't the run of the mill H Burner with lava rocks type of BBQ! All of the”Flavorizer” bars inside (all 13 of them) are in very good to excellent shape. All of the paint is fantastic. All of the mechanics work perfectly. No broken parts! The old guy that maintained this barbecue would use it outside and then cover it and put it in the garage. He bought it new in 1986. Apparently, not a big grillin' kind of a guy. With just a light dusting of Easy off on the grill, bars, and rack, it sparkled. The one thing at the garage sale I did notice was that it was NG and not LP. I need LP! I pulled the hose off, replaced it with an LP regulator, and fired it up. Nice flame! Like, 2 1/2" of nice flame on high! Yikes! I let it cook for a while and let it smoke a bit to burn off any gunk. I then looked around for new orifices. No problem online to find blank ones that needed a #59 drill to open them up a bit (LP chart showed a #59 for a 12,000 BTU/valve). I wasn't real secure in going that route so I looked around at some barbecue shops nearby and, lo and behold, one of the shops had a Weber LP manifold with the orifices in it. We swapped orifices... no charge! Sweet! I asked if the valves were different, and he said no. These valves are smooth operating with no clicks at low, med, hi. I just put it together and fired it up. After a little adjusting of the vents, the blue flames came out of the burners at a nice 1" length. I watched the temp rise up to about 580 degrees in about 10 minutes. That's about where it stopped. I have never used a barbecue like this. I think I'll throw a few chicken titties on it to see how it works. I suspect really greasy burger meat is the best for a nice smoky flavor (burgers tomorrow!).
So, here are a few questions for you brethren BBQ folks. Was there a gas Weber series before the Genesis 1? Is the chocolate color the first that you have heard of? I can't seem to find any others with only a reference to the color (seems they are black or red). Does the flame size sound about right? Have any of you converted a Weber from NG to LP? I read warnings about this type of conversion but can't understand the fear factor since Weber used to offer the conversion kit. If you have converted one of these from NG to LP, what was in the kit? I am curious to see if the valves themselves needed a different spring to compensate for the differences in WC. Let’s see if I can post some pictures.
OK fellas, thanks for giving me a place to ramble on about my new find! Any help on the above questions would be greatly appreciated! And thanks for all the great reads on this site! Chris
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Thanks for the replies guys! This Weber has 13 bars inside. The wooden slats are original. This must be the first gas grill Weber came out with. Does anybody know of an earlier gas grill model? This one fits right into my collection of vintage BBQs. I am kind of bugged about the LP bottle just sitting on the ground. Do you guys have a cheap fix for this? Something I can make in the garage? The tank that I am using has a gauge on it to tell me how much gas it has left. When I run out of propane, I will have to replace the original valve with an OPD since this tank is vintage(see pic). I like the dial!
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The yellow ones behind are Sazcos. I picked up the small "Genie" and the "Sultan" at garage sales. I picked up a blue "Genie" off Craigslist. These are from the 60's. Ceramic cookers like the early Kamados. These have the patent whereas the Kamado only got the design patent. I use them all the time. Here's a pic of the three:
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In the back yard scene in the Graduate, they are using a big Sazco on the grass in the background. They are cooking on a Genie on the stand. Both are Sazcos. Good eye!