It’s the end of an era for one of America’s most colorful automotive retailers.
The family of Cal Worthington, who died in 2013 at 92, is selling the last dealership bearing his name, Worthington Ford in Long Beach, Calif.
Worthington became famous for airing commercials featuring loony antics with “My Dog Spot.” The hook was that Spot was never a dog; it might be an elephant, a tiger, a hippo — even a killer whale.
At his peak in the 1960s, Worthington ran a retail empire of 29 dealerships that stretched from Houston to San Diego to Anchorage, Alaska.
The Long Beach dealership’s buyer, Nouri/Shaver Automobile Group, will rename the store BP Ford, and the Worthington signage comes down this week.
“It’s very sad,” grandson Nick Worthington told Los Angeles’ ABC7. “Our employees have been with us 40-plus years. It’s a part of everyone’s childhood and life growing up here. It’s hard to close that book for everybody.”
Ironically, Cal Worthington admitted in an interview with Automotive News in 2009 that he was never a car fanatic. His heart was in agriculture, but “I began selling cars because people like me.”