Cal Worthington Legendary Car Salesman DEAD AT 92

TMZ ^ | 09/09/2013 | TMZ

[kingu]

Cal Worthington -- the legendary car dealer who became famous for his "Go see Cal" TV commercials has gone on to that great used car lot in the sky, TMZ has learned.

Worthington -- who had dealerships in Long Beach, CA, Anchorage, Alaska, Phoenix, Houston, Sacramento and other cities -- died Sunday at his ranch in California.

[hattend]

I grew up watching Cal. Always had an odd “dog” Spot.

Rest In Peace.

[justlurking]

On a serious note, I read an interview with Cal Worthington long ago, when he was still running the dealership.

He said that he couldn't stop airing his crazy commercials. Any time he tried to do so, his sales dropped off precipitously.

[CommerceComet]

You have to admit, the commercials worked to attract your attention. Every time a new Cal Worthington ad would come out, I’d always watch it to see what kind of critter Spot was.

[austinaero]

What happened to his dog spot?

I thought Cal Worthington was at least 150 years old and would probably live forever.

‘go see Cal’

I remember those commercials

[Buckeye McFrog]

Wow. I live 2500 miles away and even I know who he is.

Now THAT’S salesmanship! RIP, Cal.

[SevenofNine]

I rememeber that dude

They used have old movies at 11pm here in SO CAL

I used watch his commericals

[eclecticEel]

The bugs have been waiting a long time for their revenge.

[Jane Long]

R.I.P.

No more "standing upon his head, til his ears are turning red" :(

[null and void]

...and his new dog, Spot!

[Obama_Is_Sabotaging_America]

This guy's a legend. I remember seeing his commercials when just a little kid.. He and his dog 'spot':

[a fool in paradise]

I've got an archive of Cal Worthington car commercials on VHS from late night tv taping (I didn't set out to tape the ads, they were part of the nightly block).

[a fool in paradise]

I think that Used Cars was someone’s idea of making a movie from this blooper clip from another 1960s California car salesman:

NSFW

Ralph Williams Bloopers/gag reel (he has a cameo appearance in the Monkees’ movie Head along with Ronald Reagan (as Governor) and Bela Lugosi, all seen on tv).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hjgIF71lio

Here is a picture of Ralph from the video clip:

And here he is in Head.

[BigEdLB]

His dealership is about 5 miles from where I live. He was a local icon....

[DManA]

I heard his name mentioned on Carson but beyond that, his name means zero to me.

[Lx]

My father always used to say he was a WWII pilot but didn’t know the details but I just looked it up and he was. He flew B-17s for 29 missions and was an acrobatics champion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Worthington

RIP and now the jingle will go through my head for the rest of the day.

[windcliff]

ping

[Ezekiel]

With his mega dealerships and ubiquitous (but memorable if cheezy) commercials, I figured that he was the stereotypical used car salesman.

Nonetheless, I admired his tenacity and creativity. Who *didn't* look forward to seeing whatever creature would appear as the next “dog Spot”?

A marketing genius.

[oh8eleven]

LOL ... now THAT's funny. Reminds me of the movie scene...

Jeff: Yessir, that's New Deal Used Cars... Now wait just a goddamn minute. What the hell is this?
Is this a 1974 Mercedes 450SL for *twenty-four thousand dollars*? That's too fu*king high.

[blows up car with dynamite. Roy watches at home]

Roy: You sonova bitch.

[esoxmagnum]

can you imagine what he woulda been worth had he put those cars in storage for 30 years?

[justlurking]

can you imagine what he woulda been worth had he put those cars in storage for 30 years?

Those cars from the 70's and 80's?

Most of them were such pieces of junk that no one would want them, except for a fundraiser with a sledgehammer.