Folks Of Interest O/T? Cal Worthington RIP

Americana at it's best.

 

Remember those commercials from our vacation trips to So Cal in the 70's. Wow...RIP, Sir.

 

I saw him when he was on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, sure made an impression. When someone is as successful as he was I always wonder how many people he employed, he had to have made a lot of people happy. RIP Mr. Worthington. Bob

 

I lived in SoCal as a kid.
Didn't really care what the TV show was if Cal and Spot were on.

Roller skating Chip
Tiger jumping from hood to hood down the line of cars.
Wrestling with a bear cub inside the car.
Riding a bull, hippo, donkey camel, elephant, whale.
Standing on his head.

Thanks for the good times Cal.

.

 

I used to live just a couple of blocks from his store in Long Beach. Always had something going on.

 

O/T? Not a chance. Cal was traditional. R.I.P.

 

I always enjoyed his commercials. I remember Worthington Dodge in South Gate and then he started Worthington Ford in Long Beach. God Bless Cal.

 

hey i'm all upset! cut me some slack!

 

Wasn't it Vin Scully?

 

It still is

 

Ya, I can sadley say I will miss him on tv, he was a great man.--TV

 

Used to work for the man... Had some funny training sessions

One of his jack *** kids (Jr) owns his AK dealerships, and pretends to be him and even fakes his voice... and may or may not have a white powder problem.

"If you need a car or truck ***** Cow... "

 

Also litle known facts from what ive been told... (could be wrong)

Flew b17 in the war.

Owns more land in NV then any one else... even the state of NV and the Feds. (cite needed on that one.)

Owns a good protion of Blue Diamond nuts. (made him more money then his dealerships.)

Also owned Worthington Oil and Gas.

 

Yes, he flew B17 bombers during the war. As far as the rest, I don't know.

 

Ok wasn't just me! I feel better.

 

"Cal Worthington here, of Northwest Chrysler-Plymouth...............in the City of Seattle." He was't here very long, but I did't know he was "run out of Washington". Another was **** Balch, of **** Balch Chevrolet; a huge success story that ended up going bad too. He had a cheesy, **** actor mustache, and would smack new cars with a sledge hammer. ALL the salesmen had the same look with the mustache. Seems to me the feds got him for tax issues or something, liquidated everything at auction, and sent him packing. The sledge hammer stunt arouse out of him not being able to get his lines right while filming his first commercial, and he said if he had a sledge hammer he would use it on the car; they gave him the hammer, and filmed the result, and that became his "hook". "GO see Cal, Go see Cal, Go see Cal" Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

One of a kind, and still flew his own private jet into his 90's!

R.I.P., Cal, we'll miss you and Spot.

4TTRUK

 

From Wikipedia;

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 Bomber 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.
After leaving the Army, Worthington wanted to become a commercial pilot, but could not because he was not a college graduate.

Says he dropped out of school at age 13.