# Those Sleazy One-Man Used-Car Lots: Why Did They Disaapear? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 20, 2004, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227 "2004-10-20T15:33:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227/21 "2004-10-21T07:08:57Z")
A bunch in Downtown San Jose- not too far from Santa Clara. ---
**Author:** ![Largo62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/45deac/32.png) [@Largo62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Largo62)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227/22 "2004-10-21T07:35:07Z")
> [@Ca3799](#): > > They are still here in my big city (Houston) but tend to congregate in certain areas and don’t run TV ads anymore. > > My favorite was (hokey cowboy in a big hat) “Hi, I’m Cal Worthington and this is my dog ‘Spot’” (and he would have an elephant or some other outrageous animal at his side). > > He surley died as he was looking kinda old many years ago. As you already discovered, oold Cal is still alive, if a little long in the tooth. He was never a small dealer, but a very big one, with hundreds of new and used cars for sale in several locations. My dad bought his first new car from Cal Worthington. It was a '57 Dodge Coronet Lancer, and Dad really couldn’t afford it. Cal’s salesman told Dad he could refinance the car after six months. Dad made him put it in writing and Cal himself signed off on it. Six months later when Dad went to the bank to refi the car, the bank officer told him, “We can’t do that,” whereupon Dad hauled out the contract with Worthington’s signature on it. The banker said, “Okay, but Cal is going to pay the difference on this one!” After that Dad always said Cal was a crook. The car was a good car, though. Unfortunately, Dad let me take the car for a date in 1962 and I stacked it up (hit from behind, actually) and my girlfriend got a whiplash. The car was totaled, and so was my relationship. Damn Cal Worthington anyway! I really liked that girl. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227/23 "2004-10-21T09:40:55Z")
Many years ago, my brother worked for a used-car dealer. He was paid to clean, wash and wax the cars. he told me about what the tricks were: -sawdust in the differntial to quiet down a worn-out gears -extra-heavy thick oil in the crankcase to cut down on the blue smoke from shot piston rings -rice in the radiator to stop leaks in the core! He told me that every car on the lot had such old, worn out batteries that they had to recharge them daily. “heres’ a real sweet little car, Ma’am…as you can see, the car was only driven to church”! Yeah…he didn’t mention that the car had been wrecked and repaired with junkyard parts! ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227/24 "2004-10-21T11:19:59Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > They’re still around, although perhaps in smaller numbers. You may not notice them as much because you live in a better neighborhood than you did. More likely, it’s because you don’t speak spanish. > > –Cliffy Bingo. They’re still around, if you drive thru the right neighborhood. If my experience is typical (story to follow), they now thrive mainly by leasing the car for a weekly payment. They reposess/re-lease the same car multiple times, which explains seeing the same cars on the lot, year after year. I tried to buy an old car from several of these lots. I approached them as as cash buyer, wanting to negotiate; And in every case was politely turned down (they didn’t even want to hear my offer). One dealer finally explained that he could make far more money from a car by leasing it to “the Mexicans” over and over, than by selling it to me. He claimed that in many cases, he had leased the same car to the same person several different times. I’m not sure if he used the term “lease” (it may have been just weekly payments), but that was effectively what he was doing. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2004, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227/25 "2004-10-21T12:42:58Z")
When I lived in L.A. there were several little “car lots” on Venice Boulevard. There’s one next to _Versailles_ (Cuban restaurant), one next to a brake shop, one or two more shoehorned into the blocks. There’s one just west of the 405 that sells Porsches and other used “high end” cars. I’d guess there were half a dozen little car lots in between Clarington Avenue and Sepulveda Blvd. Lincoln Blvd. in Marina del Rey is lined with many sleazy car lots. While most have a variety of cheap cars, many seem to specialise in certain types. One will mostly sell worn-out Porsches and BMWs and Mercedes, another will have Jeeps and other 4WDs, and there’s a small Italian car dealer or two. Since there are so many used car lots, some want to sell “classy” cars to bolster their images; but they’re still "Honest Nate’s Used Car Emporium"s. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/those-sleazy-one-man-used-car-lots-why-did-they-disaapear/270227.md?page=1)