Thursday, January 06, 2011

Local Auto Icon Dies


During the time that I lived in Walla Walla, I never met William "Biff" Brotherton. Although I didn't know him, it was impossible not to know of him. His father Tex Brotherton had the Dodge dealership in town. They were all over the radio with the slogan "it's as easy as A B C, A Brotherton Car is A Better Car". They knew how to saturate the advertising market. When Biff joined with his dad, he did the radio commercials. He was the new generation.
Biff Brotherton bought the Chevrolet and Cadillac dealership in town and became, I believe the first to move out of the downtown. He called it Sunshine Chevrolet Cadillac. They built a posh sprawling lot out in the Eastgate. After I got my driver's license, I remember car shopping there many times.
About a decade later, he would sell that and move here to the Seattle area.
When I was working in downtown Seattle, his Cadillac dealership was about a block away, I had thought about walking in to talk about Walla Walla and the like. It never happened. Eventually the dealership was relocated in Renton, where they once again used the family name.
The Seattle Times has reported that Biff Brotherton died last Sunday of cancer.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Was hired to work at Frederick Cadillac and loved my job and working for the Brotherton family. Biff was a great boss. My thoughts and prayers are with Leslie and the family at this difficult time.