Legendary car dealer Cal Worthington has passed. No word on his dog "Spot".
http://laist.com/2013/09/09/fa...p_owner_cal_wort.php
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Dave thanks for picking up on this news & posting it.
Dave & Mike those were nice stories about Cal Worthington, thanks for posting the links.
I found out a couple of things about Mr. Worthington I didn't know previously ... he's an Okie like me and he's had one more wife than I have!
He lived a long prosperous life. Being an Okie, it doesn't surprise me he owned a ranch in Orland California (pop 7000); but if I had his money I would have picked somewhere else.
The stuff neither of these stories mentioned, Cal Worthington was considered a genius as a businessman. He was a paid guest speaker in college level business and marketing classes back in the 1970 through 1990 era. I believe all his dealerships were based in the western US, but at one time he owned a bunch of them. All brands too, they weren't all Ford dealerships.
I lived within walking distance of his Long Beach Ford dealership on Bellflower Blvd in the 1980s. The sales guys used to stand along the front of the dealership on Bellflower, waiting for customers to drive up, all wearing cowboy hats! On weekends he'd have animals on hand for the kids to pet or ride .... for instance elephants.
This touched me personally because back in the days when the Mustang restoration hobby was just beginning (1980s) I used to keep his parts counter guys educated about Mustang & hi performance Ford parts, and they kept my phone number handy for referring Mustang customers to me. Good memories.
-G
Dave & Mike those were nice stories about Cal Worthington, thanks for posting the links.
I found out a couple of things about Mr. Worthington I didn't know previously ... he's an Okie like me and he's had one more wife than I have!
He lived a long prosperous life. Being an Okie, it doesn't surprise me he owned a ranch in Orland California (pop 7000); but if I had his money I would have picked somewhere else.The stuff neither of these stories mentioned, Cal Worthington was considered a genius as a businessman. He was a paid guest speaker in college level business and marketing classes back in the 1970 through 1990 era. I believe all his dealerships were based in the western US, but at one time he owned a bunch of them. All brands too, they weren't all Ford dealerships.
I lived within walking distance of his Long Beach Ford dealership on Bellflower Blvd in the 1980s. The sales guys used to stand along the front of the dealership on Bellflower, waiting for customers to drive up, all wearing cowboy hats! On weekends he'd have animals on hand for the kids to pet or ride .... for instance elephants.
This touched me personally because back in the days when the Mustang restoration hobby was just beginning (1980s) I used to keep his parts counter guys educated about Mustang & hi performance Ford parts, and they kept my phone number handy for referring Mustang customers to me. Good memories.
-G
I remember him and his dog Storm selling Plymouths in Seattle in the 70's. He was the bases of alot of high school skites. R.I.P. Cal