Cal Worthington Automotive

[Materene]

Anybody remember the guy who made this line famous? If so, do you ever wonder what happened to him?

Check it out!

Bump: I remember Art Grindle, he was better known as Art "Swindle", he was busted for making customers buy the heaters that was already covered in the cost of a new Chrysler or Dodge. If I remember his dealership was on Jensen Drive ? I won't put my life on the line for this info correct me if I'm wrong, I was very young at the time but news traveled fast in those days.

[FilioScotia]

Bump: I remember Art Grindle, he was better known as Art "Swindle", he was busted for making customers buy the heaters that was already covered in the cost of a new Chrysler or Dodge. If I remember his dealership was on Jensen Drive ? I won't put my life on the line for this info correct me if I'm wrong, I was very young at the time but news traveled fast in those days.

You're thinking of somebody else. Art Grindle was never "busted" for anything illegal or wrong. And his dealership was at Chimney Rock and Westheimer on the west side - many miles from Jensen Drive, on the north side.

[Materene]

You're thinking of somebody else. Art Grindle was never "busted" for anything illegal or wrong. And his dealership was at Chimney Rock and Westheimer on the west side - many miles from Jensen Drive, on the north side.

If I'm in error then I stand corrected. Curious about this I Googled and came up with something that might clarify what I said, I did not use any source to answer the original post here, only what was going on around town in the early 50's and what as a young boy was hearing!

The link is another forum and you can judge for yourself , go down to the lower part of the page and read a few entries. Maybe he did maybe he didn't ...

http://www.symmonline.com/phorum/read.php?2,18483

[little frau]

Now I'm wondering what happened to Heights2Bastrop, the originator of this thread.

Haven't seen his posts in a while.

[harrison bergeron]

Sad news for you fans of Mr Grindle. Take your pick:

https://www.google.com/search?aq=f&sugexp=chrome,mod=12&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=art+grindle

I 've been driving a van produced by his son Artie since 2003. Bought it used when it was 9 years old and had 100K miles on it. It still sports the sticker:

[Muddawg]

On 7/17/2006 at 10:21 PM, BellaireGuy said:

The one with his dog Storm was Ralph Williams. Art Grindle was a few years before him. The Firesign Theater did a takeoff on Ralph Williams, "here in the city of emphysema."

I thought Art Grindle went to prison. I remember his commercials on Saturday afternoons on (I think) Channel 2 in between old movies like Johnny Weismuller in Tarzan or the Marx Brothers.

I remember it the other way around - the movies were in between the commercials!! And they were on Saturday mornings. 

[FilioScotia]

Actually, it was Chick Randall and his dog Storm. Randall was sales manager at several Ralph Williams Ford dealerships on the west coast. His commercials were copied by Cal Worthington, who did his commercials with his dog "Spot". However, Cal's "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. Among the many creatures that played the role of "Spot" were a killer whale from Sea World, a lion, an elephant, a goose, a tiger, a bull, various snakes, a rhinoceros, a skunk, a bear, a roller-skating chimpanzee, a water buffalo and a hippopotamus. 

 

These commercials began as a parody of a long-running series of commercials produced by car 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 dog, and was usually lounging on the hood of the first car to be featured in the ad.