WWII Veteran
Calvin Coolidge "Cal" Worthington (November 27, 1920 – September 8, 2013) was an American car dealer, best known on the West Coast of the United States, and to a more limited extent elsewhere, from minor appearances and parodies in a number of movies. He was best known for his unique radio and television advertisements for the Worthington Dealership Group, most of which began with the announcement "Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!"—though "Spot" was never a dog. Often, Spot was a tiger, a seal, an elephant, a chimpanzee, or a bear. In one ad, "Spot" was a hippopotamus, which Worthington rode in the commercial. On some occasions, "Spot" was a vehicle, such as an airplane that Worthington would be seen standing atop the wings of while airborne. "Spot" was officially retired in the mid-1980s; however he was mentioned occasionally in later commercials.
According to a profile published in the Sacramento Bee in 1990, Worthington grossed $316.8 million in 1988, making him at the time the largest single owner of a car dealership chain. His advertising agency, named Spot Advertising, had Worthington as its only client and spent $15 million on commercials, the most of any auto dealer at the time. He sold automobiles from 1945 until his death and owned a 24,000-acre (9,700 ha; 38 sq mi) ranch located in Orland, California, north of Sacramento.
Early life
Calvin Coolidge Worthington was born on November 27, 1920 in the now-defunct town of Bly, Oklahoma,three weeks after his namesake, Calvin Coolidge, had been elected Vice President of the United States. Worthington grew up in grinding poverty, one of nine children, and dropped out of school at the age of 13. His first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at age 15.
World War II
At the beginning of World War II, Worthington enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, he was the aerobatics champion at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Texas. He saw combat as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 390th Bomb Group, flying 29 missions over Germany. He was discharged after the war as a captain. Worthington was awarded the Air Medal five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented to him by General Jimmy Doolittle.
Worthington's military service was frequently revisited in the 21st century in aviation magazines, since he had trained pilots who would become some of America's first astronauts.
Business career
Early years
After leaving the Army, Worthington wanted to become a commercial pilot, but could not because he was not a college graduate. He sold his car for $500 to purchase a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was unsuccessful, but sold it for what he had paid, an indication of future sales success. He then sold used cars in front of the post office in Corpus Christi, making a folksy pitch to people who stopped to pick up their mail. He moved to a dirt lot, where he made a $500 profit in one week by selling just three cars. He decided car sales would be his career.
Move to California
In 1949, Worthington moved to Huntington Park, California, establishing a Hudson Motor Car dealership. Early on, he entered the nascent field of television advertising, purchasing time for a three-hour live country music TV show every Saturday and Sunday on Los Angeles TV station KTLA, which eventually was entitled Cal's Corral. A regular on the show was the flamboyant and eccentric singer and Hawaiian Guitar player Jenks "Tex" Carman. When television became more established and sponsorship of entire programs subsequently became unfeasible, he became a Ford dealer with one-minute and 30-second commercials.
By the 1970s, Worthington was saturating the commercial breaks during the overnight hours on four of the seven television stations in Los Angeles, which had agreed to fill their overnight schedules by playing movies. Worthington's commercials could be seen breaking into old movies overnight, from midnight to six o'clock.
One of Worthington's rivals in the early 1960s was Chick Lambert, a well-known salesman with Brand Motors Ford City. As the dealership's television pitchman, Lambert always introduced "my dog, Storm" (a large German Shepherd dog) as a prop in the commercials. Storm would be seen either lounging on the hood of a car, sitting behind the wheel, or walking with his owner along the rows of cars. By the mid-1960s, Lambert had taken his dog act to Ralph Williams Ford (previously Leon Ames Ford), becoming well known for Storm and his intro, "Some people call this a commercial; I call it an invitation." Worthington livened up the commercial wars by countering with the first of his "dog Spot" ads, a gorilla that roared. The response was so positive that a new campaign was born, featuring "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" (see below for more information).
Expansion across the West Coast
The physical reach of the Worthington Dealership Group would eventually cover a large portion of the American Southwest and West. The company at its peak had 29 dealerships. Among the markets served by Worthington included Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix, Arizona; Carlsbad, Claremont, Folsom, Long Beach, Sacramento and South Gate, California; Reno, Nevada; Houston and Sugar Land, Texas; and Federal Way, Washington. The company has since sold most of these dealerships; it still operates the Anchorage and Long Beach outlets.
The company entered the Anchorage market at a frenzied time in 1976, during the height of the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. In fact, the appearance in Alaska of a well-heeled California businessman coincidental with oil-related prosperity often entered the consciousness of Alaskans during those years, though Worthington was not the only businessman who fell under this category. Worthington purchased an existing dealership, Friendly Ford, from the Stepp family, who continued to operate the city's Lincoln–Mercury dealership for many years afterward.
He was one of the first to abandon the traditional stand-alone dealership in favor of "auto malls."
As of 2002, he also owned three shopping centers and one office tower, grossing $600 million a year.
"My Dog Spot" ads
For nearly a quarter-century, from the 1960s until the 1990s, Worthington ran a series of offbeat television and radio advertisements for his auto dealerships patterned loosely after the pioneering "oddball" advertisements of Earl "Madman" Muntz. They began as a parody of a competitor who appeared in advertisements with a puppy recently adopted from the pound. They were known as the "My Dog Spot" ads because each commercial would introduce "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" However, the "dog" was never a dog. In most cases, it was an exotic animal being led around on a leash, such as a tiger or elephant. These commercials began as a parody of a long-running series of commercials produced by salesman Chick Lambert, who worked for multiple Los Angeles-area Ford dealers over many years. These commercials invariably began with "I'm Chick Lambert, Sales Manager here at Ralph Williams Ford, and this is my dog, Storm." Storm was a German Shepherd, who was usually lounging on the hood of the first car to be featured in the ad.
Worthington's commercials were seen on every television channel in Los Angeles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, mostly through saturation advertising during the overnight hours. (It was also played in Ontario Canada) The commercials would be accompanied by a jingle set to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, with the lyrics re-written to the refrain of "If you want a car or truck, go see Cal, if you want to save a buck, go see Cal;" following this were several different versions of the lyrics, such as "Give a new car to your wife, she will love you all your life" or "I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red," and ending with "Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal". When the idea of a jingle was first pitched to him, it was conceptualized as slow with a big roll up of drums; Worthington disagreed and felt the song should be fast and wrote the lyrics and recorded the song himself. The jingle was successful. In the years following, Worthington discovered that there were children who thought that his name was "Go see Cal."
Among the many creatures that were featured as "Spot" were a killer whale from SeaWorld, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, a bull, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller-skating chimpanzee, a carabao (water buffalo), and a hippopotamus. In addition to the many animals that were featured, one of Cal Worthington's "Spots" was Deacon Jones, at the time one of the "Fearsome Foursome" of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, who sang the "Go See Cal" jingle. Worthington made deals with two local circuses to obtain animals for the commercial shoots. He also made use of individual owners who commonly leased their animals to film and television shoots in nearby Hollywood.
In some commercials, Worthington would claim he would do a stunt for a sale, such as eating a bug or "stand upon my head 'til my ears are turning red." According to a spokesman for the Television Bureau of Advertising, Worthington "is probably the best known car dealer pitchman in television history."
Personal life and death
Worthington was married and divorced four times. He never owned a car, instead borrowing one for sale from his dealerships. Worthington said in 2007 that he disliked selling automobiles, but "just kind of got trapped in it after the war. I didn't have the skills to do anything else. I just wanted to fly." In May 2010, Worthington appeared in a political advertisement for California State Assembly candidate Larry Miles. The commercial, a throwback to the "My dog Spot" days, featured Worthington and "Spot" with Miles.
Worthington died September 8, 2013, at age 92 at his ranch in Orland, California. He was survived by his sons Rod, Cal Jr., and Coldren; his daughters Barbara, Susan, and Courtney; and nine grandchildren.
Grandson Nick Worthington has been the General Manager of the Worthington automobile empire. Following the death of Cal, Nick has been appearing in the commercials.
Popular culture
Worthington appeared in film and on television portraying himself as a car dealer. In addition, his commercials have provided background in numerous films, and both the style of his commercials as well as his own personal appearance and manner of speech have been portrayed by other actors as well.
----------------------------
OBIT
SANTA ANA – Car salesman Cal Worthington was known for his famed commercials featuring wild animals, his Stetson hat and his larger-than-life attitude on camera.
At his memorial service Wednesday, Worthington was remembered for one other thing — an egalitarian nature that endeared him to customers, colleagues and friends.
“Millions of people thought of Cal as a friend,” said Larry Miles, Worthington’s attorney and friend. “They lost someone they trusted, someone who made them smile. Cal was truly one of the people. He treated the common man as well as he treated presidents.”
More than 350 family members, friends, employees and public officials gathered at the Lyon Air Museum to remember Worthington – a sharp businessman and devoted family man who loved an adventure.
Worthington died on Sept. 8 at 92 of natural causes at his Big W Ranch in Orland, but his commercial jingles earned him a place in popular culture for creating the musical ear worm “Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal.”
He was known for his business skills, and sold vehicles to anyone, including politicians and musicians such as country singer Roger Miller and rapper Snoop Dogg, more recently known as Snoop Lion.
He was also known for the daredevil stunts he volunteered to do. In one commercial, he was “wing-walking,” or hanging upside down with his feet attached to an airplane in flight, stating, “I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red to make a deal.”
The room was filled with reminders of Worthington’s life experiences and passions. A handful of the air museum’s World War II-era planes – one of them similar to the kind Worthington himself flew as a bomber pilot during World War II – towered over guests as they ate lunch. In one corner, an exhibit of a live capuchin monkey perched on a tree branch represented Worthington’s love for animals.
Calvin Coolidge “Cal” Worthington was born Nov. 27, 1920, in Bly, Okla., a town that no longer exists. He was the seventh of nine children and grew up in poverty during the Great Depression.
He left home to become a bomber pilot during World War II. After the war, Worthington made his way to Los Angeles and Long Beach to purchase his first car dealership in Southern California. Worthington claimed to sell 1 million cars in the span of his career and once owned nearly two dozen auto dealerships from Houston to California, Nevada, Washington and Alaska.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Worthington earned his claim to fame with his memorable jingle. Later on, he was known for using daring gimmicks in his commercials, such as appearing with his “dog” Spot, which was usually a tiger, or another animal like Shamu, the killer whale.
Garry Southard, who works out of Worthington’s Long Beach location as a used-car buyer, said he knew Worthington for about 30 years. Southard said the car salesman’s fun-loving personality and sincere love for animals were what made his car commercials so memorable.
“When you heard the jingle, you knew it was Cal Worthington before he even opened his mouth,” Southard said, “He sold you a car before you even got to the dealership, which certainly made our job easier.”
Southard said Worthington had four dealerships: his main Long Beach dealership at 2950 Bellflower Blvd., called Cal Worthington Ford, and three others in the Anchorage area. Southard said Worthington had not yet retired from his businesses before his death.
“He would say, ‘Once you retire, you pass away,’” Southard said.
One of Worthington’s sons, Calvin Worthington Jr., shared memories of his father living the busy life of a TV star and car salesman. He also remembered his father’s strong love for his family.
“In dad’s life, his business and ranch were important, but nothing ever came above family,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said.
In the years leading up to his father’s death, he made it clear he did not want to be disturbed on weekends he spent with his youngest child and Calvin’s half-brother, 12-year-old Coldren, or “Cole.”
“He was always thinking up really great stuff he could do,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said. “It was always an adventure whether it was Disneyland, house boat trips or trips to Europe.”
Cole Worthington reminisced about the times he would hang out with his father, tearing up at the end of his speech remembering his father’s “amazing” character.
“He was the best father a teenager could possibly ever have,” Cole said. “He had love for every person here, even the people who aren’t here. His love was just unbelievable and unconditional.”
Worthington’s grandson, Nick Worthington, who operates Cal Worthington Ford in Long Beach, read a letter from former Rep. Daniel Lungren, also a good friend of Worthington’s. Lungren commented on how Worthington died – during halftime watching one of his favorite teams, the San Francisco 49ers, play the Green Bay Packers.
“He went out the way he lived his life – full out,” Lungren said in his letter.
Cal Worthington, who was not married at the time of his death, had been married four times. He is survived by his children, Rod Worthington; Barbara Worthington; Calvin Worthington; Courtney Worthington Shepherd; Susan Skellenger; and Coldren Worthington; and his nine grandchildren.
Calvin Coolidge "Cal" Worthington (November 27, 1920 – September 8, 2013) was an American car dealer, best known on the West Coast of the United States, and to a more limited extent elsewhere, from minor appearances and parodies in a number of movies. He was best known for his unique radio and television advertisements for the Worthington Dealership Group, most of which began with the announcement "Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!"—though "Spot" was never a dog. Often, Spot was a tiger, a seal, an elephant, a chimpanzee, or a bear. In one ad, "Spot" was a hippopotamus, which Worthington rode in the commercial. On some occasions, "Spot" was a vehicle, such as an airplane that Worthington would be seen standing atop the wings of while airborne. "Spot" was officially retired in the mid-1980s; however he was mentioned occasionally in later commercials.
According to a profile published in the Sacramento Bee in 1990, Worthington grossed $316.8 million in 1988, making him at the time the largest single owner of a car dealership chain. His advertising agency, named Spot Advertising, had Worthington as its only client and spent $15 million on commercials, the most of any auto dealer at the time. He sold automobiles from 1945 until his death and owned a 24,000-acre (9,700 ha; 38 sq mi) ranch located in Orland, California, north of Sacramento.
Early life
Calvin Coolidge Worthington was born on November 27, 1920 in the now-defunct town of Bly, Oklahoma,three weeks after his namesake, Calvin Coolidge, had been elected Vice President of the United States. Worthington grew up in grinding poverty, one of nine children, and dropped out of school at the age of 13. His first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at age 15.
World War II
At the beginning of World War II, Worthington enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, he was the aerobatics champion at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Texas. He saw combat as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 390th Bomb Group, flying 29 missions over Germany. He was discharged after the war as a captain. Worthington was awarded the Air Medal five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented to him by General Jimmy Doolittle.
Worthington's military service was frequently revisited in the 21st century in aviation magazines, since he had trained pilots who would become some of America's first astronauts.
Business career
Early years
After leaving the Army, Worthington wanted to become a commercial pilot, but could not because he was not a college graduate. He sold his car for $500 to purchase a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was unsuccessful, but sold it for what he had paid, an indication of future sales success. He then sold used cars in front of the post office in Corpus Christi, making a folksy pitch to people who stopped to pick up their mail. He moved to a dirt lot, where he made a $500 profit in one week by selling just three cars. He decided car sales would be his career.
Move to California
In 1949, Worthington moved to Huntington Park, California, establishing a Hudson Motor Car dealership. Early on, he entered the nascent field of television advertising, purchasing time for a three-hour live country music TV show every Saturday and Sunday on Los Angeles TV station KTLA, which eventually was entitled Cal's Corral. A regular on the show was the flamboyant and eccentric singer and Hawaiian Guitar player Jenks "Tex" Carman. When television became more established and sponsorship of entire programs subsequently became unfeasible, he became a Ford dealer with one-minute and 30-second commercials.
By the 1970s, Worthington was saturating the commercial breaks during the overnight hours on four of the seven television stations in Los Angeles, which had agreed to fill their overnight schedules by playing movies. Worthington's commercials could be seen breaking into old movies overnight, from midnight to six o'clock.
One of Worthington's rivals in the early 1960s was Chick Lambert, a well-known salesman with Brand Motors Ford City. As the dealership's television pitchman, Lambert always introduced "my dog, Storm" (a large German Shepherd dog) as a prop in the commercials. Storm would be seen either lounging on the hood of a car, sitting behind the wheel, or walking with his owner along the rows of cars. By the mid-1960s, Lambert had taken his dog act to Ralph Williams Ford (previously Leon Ames Ford), becoming well known for Storm and his intro, "Some people call this a commercial; I call it an invitation." Worthington livened up the commercial wars by countering with the first of his "dog Spot" ads, a gorilla that roared. The response was so positive that a new campaign was born, featuring "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" (see below for more information).
Expansion across the West Coast
The physical reach of the Worthington Dealership Group would eventually cover a large portion of the American Southwest and West. The company at its peak had 29 dealerships. Among the markets served by Worthington included Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix, Arizona; Carlsbad, Claremont, Folsom, Long Beach, Sacramento and South Gate, California; Reno, Nevada; Houston and Sugar Land, Texas; and Federal Way, Washington. The company has since sold most of these dealerships; it still operates the Anchorage and Long Beach outlets.
The company entered the Anchorage market at a frenzied time in 1976, during the height of the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. In fact, the appearance in Alaska of a well-heeled California businessman coincidental with oil-related prosperity often entered the consciousness of Alaskans during those years, though Worthington was not the only businessman who fell under this category. Worthington purchased an existing dealership, Friendly Ford, from the Stepp family, who continued to operate the city's Lincoln–Mercury dealership for many years afterward.
He was one of the first to abandon the traditional stand-alone dealership in favor of "auto malls."
As of 2002, he also owned three shopping centers and one office tower, grossing $600 million a year.
"My Dog Spot" ads
For nearly a quarter-century, from the 1960s until the 1990s, Worthington ran a series of offbeat television and radio advertisements for his auto dealerships patterned loosely after the pioneering "oddball" advertisements of Earl "Madman" Muntz. They began as a parody of a competitor who appeared in advertisements with a puppy recently adopted from the pound. They were known as the "My Dog Spot" ads because each commercial would introduce "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" However, the "dog" was never a dog. In most cases, it was an exotic animal being led around on a leash, such as a tiger or elephant. These commercials began as a parody of a long-running series of commercials produced by salesman Chick Lambert, who worked for multiple Los Angeles-area Ford dealers over many years. These commercials invariably began with "I'm Chick Lambert, Sales Manager here at Ralph Williams Ford, and this is my dog, Storm." Storm was a German Shepherd, who was usually lounging on the hood of the first car to be featured in the ad.
Worthington's commercials were seen on every television channel in Los Angeles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, mostly through saturation advertising during the overnight hours. (It was also played in Ontario Canada) The commercials would be accompanied by a jingle set to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, with the lyrics re-written to the refrain of "If you want a car or truck, go see Cal, if you want to save a buck, go see Cal;" following this were several different versions of the lyrics, such as "Give a new car to your wife, she will love you all your life" or "I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red," and ending with "Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal". When the idea of a jingle was first pitched to him, it was conceptualized as slow with a big roll up of drums; Worthington disagreed and felt the song should be fast and wrote the lyrics and recorded the song himself. The jingle was successful. In the years following, Worthington discovered that there were children who thought that his name was "Go see Cal."
Among the many creatures that were featured as "Spot" were a killer whale from SeaWorld, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, a bull, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller-skating chimpanzee, a carabao (water buffalo), and a hippopotamus. In addition to the many animals that were featured, one of Cal Worthington's "Spots" was Deacon Jones, at the time one of the "Fearsome Foursome" of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, who sang the "Go See Cal" jingle. Worthington made deals with two local circuses to obtain animals for the commercial shoots. He also made use of individual owners who commonly leased their animals to film and television shoots in nearby Hollywood.
In some commercials, Worthington would claim he would do a stunt for a sale, such as eating a bug or "stand upon my head 'til my ears are turning red." According to a spokesman for the Television Bureau of Advertising, Worthington "is probably the best known car dealer pitchman in television history."
Personal life and death
Worthington was married and divorced four times. He never owned a car, instead borrowing one for sale from his dealerships. Worthington said in 2007 that he disliked selling automobiles, but "just kind of got trapped in it after the war. I didn't have the skills to do anything else. I just wanted to fly." In May 2010, Worthington appeared in a political advertisement for California State Assembly candidate Larry Miles. The commercial, a throwback to the "My dog Spot" days, featured Worthington and "Spot" with Miles.
Worthington died September 8, 2013, at age 92 at his ranch in Orland, California. He was survived by his sons Rod, Cal Jr., and Coldren; his daughters Barbara, Susan, and Courtney; and nine grandchildren.
Grandson Nick Worthington has been the General Manager of the Worthington automobile empire. Following the death of Cal, Nick has been appearing in the commercials.
Popular culture
Worthington appeared in film and on television portraying himself as a car dealer. In addition, his commercials have provided background in numerous films, and both the style of his commercials as well as his own personal appearance and manner of speech have been portrayed by other actors as well.
----------------------------
OBIT
SANTA ANA – Car salesman Cal Worthington was known for his famed commercials featuring wild animals, his Stetson hat and his larger-than-life attitude on camera.
At his memorial service Wednesday, Worthington was remembered for one other thing — an egalitarian nature that endeared him to customers, colleagues and friends.
“Millions of people thought of Cal as a friend,” said Larry Miles, Worthington’s attorney and friend. “They lost someone they trusted, someone who made them smile. Cal was truly one of the people. He treated the common man as well as he treated presidents.”
More than 350 family members, friends, employees and public officials gathered at the Lyon Air Museum to remember Worthington – a sharp businessman and devoted family man who loved an adventure.
Worthington died on Sept. 8 at 92 of natural causes at his Big W Ranch in Orland, but his commercial jingles earned him a place in popular culture for creating the musical ear worm “Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal.”
He was known for his business skills, and sold vehicles to anyone, including politicians and musicians such as country singer Roger Miller and rapper Snoop Dogg, more recently known as Snoop Lion.
He was also known for the daredevil stunts he volunteered to do. In one commercial, he was “wing-walking,” or hanging upside down with his feet attached to an airplane in flight, stating, “I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red to make a deal.”
The room was filled with reminders of Worthington’s life experiences and passions. A handful of the air museum’s World War II-era planes – one of them similar to the kind Worthington himself flew as a bomber pilot during World War II – towered over guests as they ate lunch. In one corner, an exhibit of a live capuchin monkey perched on a tree branch represented Worthington’s love for animals.
Calvin Coolidge “Cal” Worthington was born Nov. 27, 1920, in Bly, Okla., a town that no longer exists. He was the seventh of nine children and grew up in poverty during the Great Depression.
He left home to become a bomber pilot during World War II. After the war, Worthington made his way to Los Angeles and Long Beach to purchase his first car dealership in Southern California. Worthington claimed to sell 1 million cars in the span of his career and once owned nearly two dozen auto dealerships from Houston to California, Nevada, Washington and Alaska.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Worthington earned his claim to fame with his memorable jingle. Later on, he was known for using daring gimmicks in his commercials, such as appearing with his “dog” Spot, which was usually a tiger, or another animal like Shamu, the killer whale.
Garry Southard, who works out of Worthington’s Long Beach location as a used-car buyer, said he knew Worthington for about 30 years. Southard said the car salesman’s fun-loving personality and sincere love for animals were what made his car commercials so memorable.
“When you heard the jingle, you knew it was Cal Worthington before he even opened his mouth,” Southard said, “He sold you a car before you even got to the dealership, which certainly made our job easier.”
Southard said Worthington had four dealerships: his main Long Beach dealership at 2950 Bellflower Blvd., called Cal Worthington Ford, and three others in the Anchorage area. Southard said Worthington had not yet retired from his businesses before his death.
“He would say, ‘Once you retire, you pass away,’” Southard said.
One of Worthington’s sons, Calvin Worthington Jr., shared memories of his father living the busy life of a TV star and car salesman. He also remembered his father’s strong love for his family.
“In dad’s life, his business and ranch were important, but nothing ever came above family,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said.
In the years leading up to his father’s death, he made it clear he did not want to be disturbed on weekends he spent with his youngest child and Calvin’s half-brother, 12-year-old Coldren, or “Cole.”
“He was always thinking up really great stuff he could do,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said. “It was always an adventure whether it was Disneyland, house boat trips or trips to Europe.”
Cole Worthington reminisced about the times he would hang out with his father, tearing up at the end of his speech remembering his father’s “amazing” character.
“He was the best father a teenager could possibly ever have,” Cole said. “He had love for every person here, even the people who aren’t here. His love was just unbelievable and unconditional.”
Worthington’s grandson, Nick Worthington, who operates Cal Worthington Ford in Long Beach, read a letter from former Rep. Daniel Lungren, also a good friend of Worthington’s. Lungren commented on how Worthington died – during halftime watching one of his favorite teams, the San Francisco 49ers, play the Green Bay Packers.
“He went out the way he lived his life – full out,” Lungren said in his letter.
Cal Worthington, who was not married at the time of his death, had been married four times. He is survived by his children, Rod Worthington; Barbara Worthington; Calvin Worthington; Courtney Worthington Shepherd; Susan Skellenger; and Coldren Worthington; and his nine grandchildren.
WWII Veteran
Calvin Coolidge "Cal" Worthington (November 27, 1920 – September 8, 2013) was an American car dealer, best known on the West Coast of the United States, and to a more limited extent elsewhere, from minor appearances and parodies in a number of movies. He was best known for his unique radio and television advertisements for the Worthington Dealership Group, most of which began with the announcement "Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!"—though "Spot" was never a dog. Often, Spot was a tiger, a seal, an elephant, a chimpanzee, or a bear. In one ad, "Spot" was a hippopotamus, which Worthington rode in the commercial. On some occasions, "Spot" was a vehicle, such as an airplane that Worthington would be seen standing atop the wings of while airborne. "Spot" was officially retired in the mid-1980s; however he was mentioned occasionally in later commercials.
According to a profile published in the Sacramento Bee in 1990, Worthington grossed $316.8 million in 1988, making him at the time the largest single owner of a car dealership chain. His advertising agency, named Spot Advertising, had Worthington as its only client and spent $15 million on commercials, the most of any auto dealer at the time. He sold automobiles from 1945 until his death and owned a 24,000-acre (9,700 ha; 38 sq mi) ranch located in Orland, California, north of Sacramento.
Early life
Calvin Coolidge Worthington was born on November 27, 1920 in the now-defunct town of Bly, Oklahoma,three weeks after his namesake, Calvin Coolidge, had been elected Vice President of the United States. Worthington grew up in grinding poverty, one of nine children, and dropped out of school at the age of 13. His first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at age 15.
World War II
At the beginning of World War II, Worthington enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, he was the aerobatics champion at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Texas. He saw combat as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 390th Bomb Group, flying 29 missions over Germany. He was discharged after the war as a captain. Worthington was awarded the Air Medal five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented to him by General Jimmy Doolittle.
Worthington's military service was frequently revisited in the 21st century in aviation magazines, since he had trained pilots who would become some of America's first astronauts.
Business career
Early years
After leaving the Army, Worthington wanted to become a commercial pilot, but could not because he was not a college graduate. He sold his car for $500 to purchase a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was unsuccessful, but sold it for what he had paid, an indication of future sales success. He then sold used cars in front of the post office in Corpus Christi, making a folksy pitch to people who stopped to pick up their mail. He moved to a dirt lot, where he made a $500 profit in one week by selling just three cars. He decided car sales would be his career.
Move to California
In 1949, Worthington moved to Huntington Park, California, establishing a Hudson Motor Car dealership. Early on, he entered the nascent field of television advertising, purchasing time for a three-hour live country music TV show every Saturday and Sunday on Los Angeles TV station KTLA, which eventually was entitled Cal's Corral. A regular on the show was the flamboyant and eccentric singer and Hawaiian Guitar player Jenks "Tex" Carman. When television became more established and sponsorship of entire programs subsequently became unfeasible, he became a Ford dealer with one-minute and 30-second commercials.
By the 1970s, Worthington was saturating the commercial breaks during the overnight hours on four of the seven television stations in Los Angeles, which had agreed to fill their overnight schedules by playing movies. Worthington's commercials could be seen breaking into old movies overnight, from midnight to six o'clock.
One of Worthington's rivals in the early 1960s was Chick Lambert, a well-known salesman with Brand Motors Ford City. As the dealership's television pitchman, Lambert always introduced "my dog, Storm" (a large German Shepherd dog) as a prop in the commercials. Storm would be seen either lounging on the hood of a car, sitting behind the wheel, or walking with his owner along the rows of cars. By the mid-1960s, Lambert had taken his dog act to Ralph Williams Ford (previously Leon Ames Ford), becoming well known for Storm and his intro, "Some people call this a commercial; I call it an invitation." Worthington livened up the commercial wars by countering with the first of his "dog Spot" ads, a gorilla that roared. The response was so positive that a new campaign was born, featuring "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" (see below for more information).
Expansion across the West Coast
The physical reach of the Worthington Dealership Group would eventually cover a large portion of the American Southwest and West. The company at its peak had 29 dealerships. Among the markets served by Worthington included Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix, Arizona; Carlsbad, Claremont, Folsom, Long Beach, Sacramento and South Gate, California; Reno, Nevada; Houston and Sugar Land, Texas; and Federal Way, Washington. The company has since sold most of these dealerships; it still operates the Anchorage and Long Beach outlets.
The company entered the Anchorage market at a frenzied time in 1976, during the height of the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. In fact, the appearance in Alaska of a well-heeled California businessman coincidental with oil-related prosperity often entered the consciousness of Alaskans during those years, though Worthington was not the only businessman who fell under this category. Worthington purchased an existing dealership, Friendly Ford, from the Stepp family, who continued to operate the city's Lincoln–Mercury dealership for many years afterward.
He was one of the first to abandon the traditional stand-alone dealership in favor of "auto malls."
As of 2002, he also owned three shopping centers and one office tower, grossing $600 million a year.
"My Dog Spot" ads
For nearly a quarter-century, from the 1960s until the 1990s, Worthington ran a series of offbeat television and radio advertisements for his auto dealerships patterned loosely after the pioneering "oddball" advertisements of Earl "Madman" Muntz. They began as a parody of a competitor who appeared in advertisements with a puppy recently adopted from the pound. They were known as the "My Dog Spot" ads because each commercial would introduce "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" However, the "dog" was never a dog. In most cases, it was an exotic animal being led around on a leash, such as a tiger or elephant. These commercials began as a parody of a long-running series of commercials produced by salesman Chick Lambert, who worked for multiple Los Angeles-area Ford dealers over many years. These commercials invariably began with "I'm Chick Lambert, Sales Manager here at Ralph Williams Ford, and this is my dog, Storm." Storm was a German Shepherd, who was usually lounging on the hood of the first car to be featured in the ad.
Worthington's commercials were seen on every television channel in Los Angeles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, mostly through saturation advertising during the overnight hours. (It was also played in Ontario Canada) The commercials would be accompanied by a jingle set to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, with the lyrics re-written to the refrain of "If you want a car or truck, go see Cal, if you want to save a buck, go see Cal;" following this were several different versions of the lyrics, such as "Give a new car to your wife, she will love you all your life" or "I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red," and ending with "Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal". When the idea of a jingle was first pitched to him, it was conceptualized as slow with a big roll up of drums; Worthington disagreed and felt the song should be fast and wrote the lyrics and recorded the song himself. The jingle was successful. In the years following, Worthington discovered that there were children who thought that his name was "Go see Cal."
Among the many creatures that were featured as "Spot" were a killer whale from SeaWorld, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, a bull, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller-skating chimpanzee, a carabao (water buffalo), and a hippopotamus. In addition to the many animals that were featured, one of Cal Worthington's "Spots" was Deacon Jones, at the time one of the "Fearsome Foursome" of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, who sang the "Go See Cal" jingle. Worthington made deals with two local circuses to obtain animals for the commercial shoots. He also made use of individual owners who commonly leased their animals to film and television shoots in nearby Hollywood.
In some commercials, Worthington would claim he would do a stunt for a sale, such as eating a bug or "stand upon my head 'til my ears are turning red." According to a spokesman for the Television Bureau of Advertising, Worthington "is probably the best known car dealer pitchman in television history."
Personal life and death
Worthington was married and divorced four times. He never owned a car, instead borrowing one for sale from his dealerships. Worthington said in 2007 that he disliked selling automobiles, but "just kind of got trapped in it after the war. I didn't have the skills to do anything else. I just wanted to fly." In May 2010, Worthington appeared in a political advertisement for California State Assembly candidate Larry Miles. The commercial, a throwback to the "My dog Spot" days, featured Worthington and "Spot" with Miles.
Worthington died September 8, 2013, at age 92 at his ranch in Orland, California. He was survived by his sons Rod, Cal Jr., and Coldren; his daughters Barbara, Susan, and Courtney; and nine grandchildren.
Grandson Nick Worthington has been the General Manager of the Worthington automobile empire. Following the death of Cal, Nick has been appearing in the commercials.
Popular culture
Worthington appeared in film and on television portraying himself as a car dealer. In addition, his commercials have provided background in numerous films, and both the style of his commercials as well as his own personal appearance and manner of speech have been portrayed by other actors as well.
----------------------------
OBIT
SANTA ANA – Car salesman Cal Worthington was known for his famed commercials featuring wild animals, his Stetson hat and his larger-than-life attitude on camera.
At his memorial service Wednesday, Worthington was remembered for one other thing — an egalitarian nature that endeared him to customers, colleagues and friends.
“Millions of people thought of Cal as a friend,” said Larry Miles, Worthington’s attorney and friend. “They lost someone they trusted, someone who made them smile. Cal was truly one of the people. He treated the common man as well as he treated presidents.”
More than 350 family members, friends, employees and public officials gathered at the Lyon Air Museum to remember Worthington – a sharp businessman and devoted family man who loved an adventure.
Worthington died on Sept. 8 at 92 of natural causes at his Big W Ranch in Orland, but his commercial jingles earned him a place in popular culture for creating the musical ear worm “Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal.”
He was known for his business skills, and sold vehicles to anyone, including politicians and musicians such as country singer Roger Miller and rapper Snoop Dogg, more recently known as Snoop Lion.
He was also known for the daredevil stunts he volunteered to do. In one commercial, he was “wing-walking,” or hanging upside down with his feet attached to an airplane in flight, stating, “I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red to make a deal.”
The room was filled with reminders of Worthington’s life experiences and passions. A handful of the air museum’s World War II-era planes – one of them similar to the kind Worthington himself flew as a bomber pilot during World War II – towered over guests as they ate lunch. In one corner, an exhibit of a live capuchin monkey perched on a tree branch represented Worthington’s love for animals.
Calvin Coolidge “Cal” Worthington was born Nov. 27, 1920, in Bly, Okla., a town that no longer exists. He was the seventh of nine children and grew up in poverty during the Great Depression.
He left home to become a bomber pilot during World War II. After the war, Worthington made his way to Los Angeles and Long Beach to purchase his first car dealership in Southern California. Worthington claimed to sell 1 million cars in the span of his career and once owned nearly two dozen auto dealerships from Houston to California, Nevada, Washington and Alaska.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Worthington earned his claim to fame with his memorable jingle. Later on, he was known for using daring gimmicks in his commercials, such as appearing with his “dog” Spot, which was usually a tiger, or another animal like Shamu, the killer whale.
Garry Southard, who works out of Worthington’s Long Beach location as a used-car buyer, said he knew Worthington for about 30 years. Southard said the car salesman’s fun-loving personality and sincere love for animals were what made his car commercials so memorable.
“When you heard the jingle, you knew it was Cal Worthington before he even opened his mouth,” Southard said, “He sold you a car before you even got to the dealership, which certainly made our job easier.”
Southard said Worthington had four dealerships: his main Long Beach dealership at 2950 Bellflower Blvd., called Cal Worthington Ford, and three others in the Anchorage area. Southard said Worthington had not yet retired from his businesses before his death.
“He would say, ‘Once you retire, you pass away,’” Southard said.
One of Worthington’s sons, Calvin Worthington Jr., shared memories of his father living the busy life of a TV star and car salesman. He also remembered his father’s strong love for his family.
“In dad’s life, his business and ranch were important, but nothing ever came above family,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said.
In the years leading up to his father’s death, he made it clear he did not want to be disturbed on weekends he spent with his youngest child and Calvin’s half-brother, 12-year-old Coldren, or “Cole.”
“He was always thinking up really great stuff he could do,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said. “It was always an adventure whether it was Disneyland, house boat trips or trips to Europe.”
Cole Worthington reminisced about the times he would hang out with his father, tearing up at the end of his speech remembering his father’s “amazing” character.
“He was the best father a teenager could possibly ever have,” Cole said. “He had love for every person here, even the people who aren’t here. His love was just unbelievable and unconditional.”
Worthington’s grandson, Nick Worthington, who operates Cal Worthington Ford in Long Beach, read a letter from former Rep. Daniel Lungren, also a good friend of Worthington’s. Lungren commented on how Worthington died – during halftime watching one of his favorite teams, the San Francisco 49ers, play the Green Bay Packers.
“He went out the way he lived his life – full out,” Lungren said in his letter.
Cal Worthington, who was not married at the time of his death, had been married four times. He is survived by his children, Rod Worthington; Barbara Worthington; Calvin Worthington; Courtney Worthington Shepherd; Susan Skellenger; and Coldren Worthington; and his nine grandchildren.
Calvin Coolidge "Cal" Worthington (November 27, 1920 – September 8, 2013) was an American car dealer, best known on the West Coast of the United States, and to a more limited extent elsewhere, from minor appearances and parodies in a number of movies. He was best known for his unique radio and television advertisements for the Worthington Dealership Group, most of which began with the announcement "Here's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!"—though "Spot" was never a dog. Often, Spot was a tiger, a seal, an elephant, a chimpanzee, or a bear. In one ad, "Spot" was a hippopotamus, which Worthington rode in the commercial. On some occasions, "Spot" was a vehicle, such as an airplane that Worthington would be seen standing atop the wings of while airborne. "Spot" was officially retired in the mid-1980s; however he was mentioned occasionally in later commercials.
According to a profile published in the Sacramento Bee in 1990, Worthington grossed $316.8 million in 1988, making him at the time the largest single owner of a car dealership chain. His advertising agency, named Spot Advertising, had Worthington as its only client and spent $15 million on commercials, the most of any auto dealer at the time. He sold automobiles from 1945 until his death and owned a 24,000-acre (9,700 ha; 38 sq mi) ranch located in Orland, California, north of Sacramento.
Early life
Calvin Coolidge Worthington was born on November 27, 1920 in the now-defunct town of Bly, Oklahoma,three weeks after his namesake, Calvin Coolidge, had been elected Vice President of the United States. Worthington grew up in grinding poverty, one of nine children, and dropped out of school at the age of 13. His first job was as a water boy on a road construction crew for 15 cents an hour. He joined the Civilian Conservation Corps at age 15.
World War II
At the beginning of World War II, Worthington enlisted in the Army Air Corps. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant, he was the aerobatics champion at Goodfellow Field in San Angelo, Texas. He saw combat as a B-17 Flying Fortress pilot with the 390th Bomb Group, flying 29 missions over Germany. He was discharged after the war as a captain. Worthington was awarded the Air Medal five times, and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was presented to him by General Jimmy Doolittle.
Worthington's military service was frequently revisited in the 21st century in aviation magazines, since he had trained pilots who would become some of America's first astronauts.
Business career
Early years
After leaving the Army, Worthington wanted to become a commercial pilot, but could not because he was not a college graduate. He sold his car for $500 to purchase a gas station in Corpus Christi, Texas, which was unsuccessful, but sold it for what he had paid, an indication of future sales success. He then sold used cars in front of the post office in Corpus Christi, making a folksy pitch to people who stopped to pick up their mail. He moved to a dirt lot, where he made a $500 profit in one week by selling just three cars. He decided car sales would be his career.
Move to California
In 1949, Worthington moved to Huntington Park, California, establishing a Hudson Motor Car dealership. Early on, he entered the nascent field of television advertising, purchasing time for a three-hour live country music TV show every Saturday and Sunday on Los Angeles TV station KTLA, which eventually was entitled Cal's Corral. A regular on the show was the flamboyant and eccentric singer and Hawaiian Guitar player Jenks "Tex" Carman. When television became more established and sponsorship of entire programs subsequently became unfeasible, he became a Ford dealer with one-minute and 30-second commercials.
By the 1970s, Worthington was saturating the commercial breaks during the overnight hours on four of the seven television stations in Los Angeles, which had agreed to fill their overnight schedules by playing movies. Worthington's commercials could be seen breaking into old movies overnight, from midnight to six o'clock.
One of Worthington's rivals in the early 1960s was Chick Lambert, a well-known salesman with Brand Motors Ford City. As the dealership's television pitchman, Lambert always introduced "my dog, Storm" (a large German Shepherd dog) as a prop in the commercials. Storm would be seen either lounging on the hood of a car, sitting behind the wheel, or walking with his owner along the rows of cars. By the mid-1960s, Lambert had taken his dog act to Ralph Williams Ford (previously Leon Ames Ford), becoming well known for Storm and his intro, "Some people call this a commercial; I call it an invitation." Worthington livened up the commercial wars by countering with the first of his "dog Spot" ads, a gorilla that roared. The response was so positive that a new campaign was born, featuring "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" (see below for more information).
Expansion across the West Coast
The physical reach of the Worthington Dealership Group would eventually cover a large portion of the American Southwest and West. The company at its peak had 29 dealerships. Among the markets served by Worthington included Anchorage, Alaska; Phoenix, Arizona; Carlsbad, Claremont, Folsom, Long Beach, Sacramento and South Gate, California; Reno, Nevada; Houston and Sugar Land, Texas; and Federal Way, Washington. The company has since sold most of these dealerships; it still operates the Anchorage and Long Beach outlets.
The company entered the Anchorage market at a frenzied time in 1976, during the height of the construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System. In fact, the appearance in Alaska of a well-heeled California businessman coincidental with oil-related prosperity often entered the consciousness of Alaskans during those years, though Worthington was not the only businessman who fell under this category. Worthington purchased an existing dealership, Friendly Ford, from the Stepp family, who continued to operate the city's Lincoln–Mercury dealership for many years afterward.
He was one of the first to abandon the traditional stand-alone dealership in favor of "auto malls."
As of 2002, he also owned three shopping centers and one office tower, grossing $600 million a year.
"My Dog Spot" ads
For nearly a quarter-century, from the 1960s until the 1990s, Worthington ran a series of offbeat television and radio advertisements for his auto dealerships patterned loosely after the pioneering "oddball" advertisements of Earl "Madman" Muntz. They began as a parody of a competitor who appeared in advertisements with a puppy recently adopted from the pound. They were known as the "My Dog Spot" ads because each commercial would introduce "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!" However, the "dog" was never a dog. In most cases, it was an exotic animal being led around on a leash, such as a tiger or elephant. These commercials began as a parody of a long-running series of commercials produced by salesman Chick Lambert, who worked for multiple Los Angeles-area Ford dealers over many years. These commercials invariably began with "I'm Chick Lambert, Sales Manager here at Ralph Williams Ford, and this is my dog, Storm." Storm was a German Shepherd, who was usually lounging on the hood of the first car to be featured in the ad.
Worthington's commercials were seen on every television channel in Los Angeles throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, mostly through saturation advertising during the overnight hours. (It was also played in Ontario Canada) The commercials would be accompanied by a jingle set to the tune of If You're Happy and You Know It, with the lyrics re-written to the refrain of "If you want a car or truck, go see Cal, if you want to save a buck, go see Cal;" following this were several different versions of the lyrics, such as "Give a new car to your wife, she will love you all your life" or "I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red," and ending with "Go see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal". When the idea of a jingle was first pitched to him, it was conceptualized as slow with a big roll up of drums; Worthington disagreed and felt the song should be fast and wrote the lyrics and recorded the song himself. The jingle was successful. In the years following, Worthington discovered that there were children who thought that his name was "Go see Cal."
Among the many creatures that were featured as "Spot" were a killer whale from SeaWorld, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, a bull, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller-skating chimpanzee, a carabao (water buffalo), and a hippopotamus. In addition to the many animals that were featured, one of Cal Worthington's "Spots" was Deacon Jones, at the time one of the "Fearsome Foursome" of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, who sang the "Go See Cal" jingle. Worthington made deals with two local circuses to obtain animals for the commercial shoots. He also made use of individual owners who commonly leased their animals to film and television shoots in nearby Hollywood.
In some commercials, Worthington would claim he would do a stunt for a sale, such as eating a bug or "stand upon my head 'til my ears are turning red." According to a spokesman for the Television Bureau of Advertising, Worthington "is probably the best known car dealer pitchman in television history."
Personal life and death
Worthington was married and divorced four times. He never owned a car, instead borrowing one for sale from his dealerships. Worthington said in 2007 that he disliked selling automobiles, but "just kind of got trapped in it after the war. I didn't have the skills to do anything else. I just wanted to fly." In May 2010, Worthington appeared in a political advertisement for California State Assembly candidate Larry Miles. The commercial, a throwback to the "My dog Spot" days, featured Worthington and "Spot" with Miles.
Worthington died September 8, 2013, at age 92 at his ranch in Orland, California. He was survived by his sons Rod, Cal Jr., and Coldren; his daughters Barbara, Susan, and Courtney; and nine grandchildren.
Grandson Nick Worthington has been the General Manager of the Worthington automobile empire. Following the death of Cal, Nick has been appearing in the commercials.
Popular culture
Worthington appeared in film and on television portraying himself as a car dealer. In addition, his commercials have provided background in numerous films, and both the style of his commercials as well as his own personal appearance and manner of speech have been portrayed by other actors as well.
----------------------------
OBIT
SANTA ANA – Car salesman Cal Worthington was known for his famed commercials featuring wild animals, his Stetson hat and his larger-than-life attitude on camera.
At his memorial service Wednesday, Worthington was remembered for one other thing — an egalitarian nature that endeared him to customers, colleagues and friends.
“Millions of people thought of Cal as a friend,” said Larry Miles, Worthington’s attorney and friend. “They lost someone they trusted, someone who made them smile. Cal was truly one of the people. He treated the common man as well as he treated presidents.”
More than 350 family members, friends, employees and public officials gathered at the Lyon Air Museum to remember Worthington – a sharp businessman and devoted family man who loved an adventure.
Worthington died on Sept. 8 at 92 of natural causes at his Big W Ranch in Orland, but his commercial jingles earned him a place in popular culture for creating the musical ear worm “Go see Cal, go see Cal, go see Cal.”
He was known for his business skills, and sold vehicles to anyone, including politicians and musicians such as country singer Roger Miller and rapper Snoop Dogg, more recently known as Snoop Lion.
He was also known for the daredevil stunts he volunteered to do. In one commercial, he was “wing-walking,” or hanging upside down with his feet attached to an airplane in flight, stating, “I will stand upon my head until my ears are turning red to make a deal.”
The room was filled with reminders of Worthington’s life experiences and passions. A handful of the air museum’s World War II-era planes – one of them similar to the kind Worthington himself flew as a bomber pilot during World War II – towered over guests as they ate lunch. In one corner, an exhibit of a live capuchin monkey perched on a tree branch represented Worthington’s love for animals.
Calvin Coolidge “Cal” Worthington was born Nov. 27, 1920, in Bly, Okla., a town that no longer exists. He was the seventh of nine children and grew up in poverty during the Great Depression.
He left home to become a bomber pilot during World War II. After the war, Worthington made his way to Los Angeles and Long Beach to purchase his first car dealership in Southern California. Worthington claimed to sell 1 million cars in the span of his career and once owned nearly two dozen auto dealerships from Houston to California, Nevada, Washington and Alaska.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Worthington earned his claim to fame with his memorable jingle. Later on, he was known for using daring gimmicks in his commercials, such as appearing with his “dog” Spot, which was usually a tiger, or another animal like Shamu, the killer whale.
Garry Southard, who works out of Worthington’s Long Beach location as a used-car buyer, said he knew Worthington for about 30 years. Southard said the car salesman’s fun-loving personality and sincere love for animals were what made his car commercials so memorable.
“When you heard the jingle, you knew it was Cal Worthington before he even opened his mouth,” Southard said, “He sold you a car before you even got to the dealership, which certainly made our job easier.”
Southard said Worthington had four dealerships: his main Long Beach dealership at 2950 Bellflower Blvd., called Cal Worthington Ford, and three others in the Anchorage area. Southard said Worthington had not yet retired from his businesses before his death.
“He would say, ‘Once you retire, you pass away,’” Southard said.
One of Worthington’s sons, Calvin Worthington Jr., shared memories of his father living the busy life of a TV star and car salesman. He also remembered his father’s strong love for his family.
“In dad’s life, his business and ranch were important, but nothing ever came above family,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said.
In the years leading up to his father’s death, he made it clear he did not want to be disturbed on weekends he spent with his youngest child and Calvin’s half-brother, 12-year-old Coldren, or “Cole.”
“He was always thinking up really great stuff he could do,” Calvin Worthington Jr. said. “It was always an adventure whether it was Disneyland, house boat trips or trips to Europe.”
Cole Worthington reminisced about the times he would hang out with his father, tearing up at the end of his speech remembering his father’s “amazing” character.
“He was the best father a teenager could possibly ever have,” Cole said. “He had love for every person here, even the people who aren’t here. His love was just unbelievable and unconditional.”
Worthington’s grandson, Nick Worthington, who operates Cal Worthington Ford in Long Beach, read a letter from former Rep. Daniel Lungren, also a good friend of Worthington’s. Lungren commented on how Worthington died – during halftime watching one of his favorite teams, the San Francisco 49ers, play the Green Bay Packers.
“He went out the way he lived his life – full out,” Lungren said in his letter.
Cal Worthington, who was not married at the time of his death, had been married four times. He is survived by his children, Rod Worthington; Barbara Worthington; Calvin Worthington; Courtney Worthington Shepherd; Susan Skellenger; and Coldren Worthington; and his nine grandchildren.
