Posted on 02/19/2023 12:31:21 AM PST by dennisw
Many of those commercials were filmed under the large “Worthington Ford in Long Beach” sign at the dealership he bought in 1963.
Now that sign has come to mark the end of an era. Worthington’s family said they have sold the 3-acre business, the last dealership still bearing the name of the legendary car salesman who died in 2012.
“It’s very sad,” Nick Worthington, Cal’s grandson, said in an interview with ABC7. “Our employees have been with us 40 plus years.
“It’s a part of everyone’s childhood and life growing up here,” he added. “It’s hard to close that book for everybody.”
On Saturday, Shawn Abdallah, finance director at the dealership, said news of the sale “came as a shock, although there had been rumors for a couple of months that something like this was in the works.”
“The rumors were confirmed on Thursday,” he said, “when Nick had everyone gather in a conference room here for an important message.
“He said, ‘You probably heard the rumors and today I am here to confirm them.’ ” Abdallah recalled. “He was very emotional. And yeah, there were tears all around.”
The buyer, Nouri/Shaver Automobile Group, plans to keep all the Worthington Ford employees, but they will have to reapply for their jobs, Abdallah said.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
My memory was that he was making fun of another car dealer who would include an actual dog in his ads.
Mr. GG2 who is originally from Southern California bought a car there in his youth.
My father worked briefly for Bandini during college. He was a geology major, and I don’t think fertilizer was what he had in mind.
My favorite car dealership advertisement on tv was “Equipped, NOT stripped.” With all kinds of flash pickups driving by. This was in “rural” Tallahassee Florida. The new car dealers in Maine were no slouches either. They sold the sh___ out their vehicles. Inundating TV with their purposely cornball advertisements
As some FReeper said above, “Those were the days”
Two of America’s oldest auto dealerships is Reynold’s Auto and Marine in Lyme, Connecticut (founded 1859) and Ferman Autos in Tampa, Florida (1889).
Got a prison record? We don’t care.
Don’t have a job? We don’t care.
Got bad credit? We don’t care.
Don’t expect to pay us? That’s when we care!
I bought a brand new Ford Tempo that year. 84 with a 4 or 5 speed manual trans. Great car until we sold it. 88k miles. Bought a brand new Ford Explorer in 91. Go see Cal was right down the freeway from us but we never bought a car from him. Pretty sure when he was doing all those commercials he was a used car dealer. Saw those commercials for ever! They are definitely stuck in our minds.
You are good! More laughs than 99% of them TV comedians/ But if you are really going to be real you need ___Utorrent___
FReepmail if you need advice on UT___ “Don’t follow leaders watch your parking meters.”
Where the dog looks like a cat, go see Cal!
When you come on to the lot,
Better watch out for old Spot;
If it gets a little hot,
Go see Cal!
Then there was the ad with a woman’s sexy voice saying “Bandini is the word for fertilizer”. Funny the things you remember from so long ago.
Early car commercials in SoCal were a hoot. Lots of cowboy hats and there was one guy who always slammed the fenders of cars he was featuring.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Worthington
Cal Worthington lived to 92. All FReepers should do as well. Chinese saying —
“The sage lives a long life” My opinion is that he minimally ripped his car buyers. He was nice and honest to all new an used buyers
In the 1970s, in Orlando, Florida, there was a crazy guy selling Dodges. Art Grindel Dodge was classic ads in the 70s...
“Cal Worthington - aside from being a war hero and a good all around guy - just had “it”. He was a natural born salesman. His ads are iconic. He did quite well for himself and his family. There was obviously no replacing him when he was gone.”
Every Friday noon at Long Beach State in the 1970s there was a guest speaker in front of the bookstore. Cal Worthington drew a huge crowd, larger than Leonard Nimoy and Hanoi Jane Fonda. He got a great applause at the end of his talk.
Cal Worthington came up with the “his dog Spot” because of Chick Lambert and his German shepherd Storm at his rival Ralph Williams Ford.
Can’t find a real commercial featuring Chick Lambert but he did do a parody commercial when Ralph Williams was in the SF area.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcYH2Hyy2mM
Maybe he has a way back machine ?.
After the 70’s many good things have left so-cal those times are gone for ever.
The 70s in “the Southland.” Cal Worthington and his dog Spot, KMET FM rock, Venice Beach, gourmet chili-burgers…
I had an aunt & uncle and cousins in Orange County and spent some time there and in L.A. They all left for Florida, one by one in the 90s.
California was a nice place once.
Who gets his dog Spot???
Worthington dealership is not too far from CSULB...
It is north of 405 freeway...Bellflower Blvd and Spring Street...About 1 mile from Millikan High School...
no slawson is off of the I5, but it was a cool carson joke
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