RIP, Cal Worthington

http://www.tmz.com/2013/09/09/cal-worthington-dead-dies-car-dealer/

This will only be meaningful to those of us who grew up in SoCal, but the master car pitchman has died at 92.

His commercials were all over the place from the 1960s until now. They often aired late at night on the independent stations, so he was probably buying the cheap airtimes.

He was usually with his dog Spot, which was a tiger or bear or gorilla or other exotic animal. And there was his banjo-driven theme song.

Here's some of his ads

 

PUSSY COW!

Man, he was old when I was a kid in L.A.

92?

1) I thought he died years ago and
2) That he just died made me think he was 100 and something.

PUSSY COW!

 

Meaningful if you watched The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson also as
he would joke about Cal Worthington.

 

Yes, I'm one of those SoCal kids who grew up seeing those commercials.

And, yes, Xan, I always heard "Pussy Cow," when they did the theme song. I think I was in my teens before I realized it was "Go See Cal!"

Another small part of my childhood gone. RIP.

 

They had his dealerships all over Northern California and we all grew up with the "Cal Worthington and his dog Spot" ads as a kid...

RIP

 

I grew up in North Vancouver, BC and we got the Cal Worthington ads on the Seattle stations. Loved those ads.

 

I bought my first car (a 1989 Nissan Sentra) from one of his dealerships.