[ColdNoMore]

Originally Posted by bbbbbb

So, if a car dealer has a car, built several years ago, or/and it was leased, or it was a managers car (common in the auto world) and so they put on new tires, touched up the paint or repainted it, replaced upholstery, is it now a new or a used car?
A car dealer named Cal Worthington in North Long Beach Ca. did exactly that years ago. (1957?). I actually had a relative who bought one of his "new cars". He lost his business license and I think he went to jail.
I actually saw that and I also saw one of his rebuilt new cars.
bbbbbb

I never heard that Cal went to jail.

He had a bunch of dealerships (even different brands) all over the west coast...even in Alaska.

He also had some great commercials with his dog...'Spot.'


"Go See Cal!"





He was actually a heck of an entrepreneur.

Cal Worthington - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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 his 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 in 2013 and owned a 24,000-acre (9,700 ha; 38 sq mi) ranch located in Orland, California, north of Sacramento.