Glen Grant, Car Dealer With Zany Ads

Glen Grant, longtime Seattle-area car dealer known for his zany television commercials, died yesterday after a battle with heart disease. He was 80.

The man who nicknamed himself "Low Profit Glen" and said he would stand on his head to make a deal was a fixture in the auto business for more than four decades and best known as the owner of Glen Grant Chevrolet in Burien since 1975.

"The first six seconds of a 30-second (television) spot are used to grab attention," Mr. Grant once told a reporter, explaining that he'd open with stunts or a prank and then shift to a serious message.

In some of his best-known spots, Mr. Grant would don a Superman costume to boast about his super deals or put a toy Camaro in a bun to say he couldn't eat cars so he'd do just about anything to sell them.

Those lighthearted pitches belied Mr. Grant's true outlook toward the car business - that hard work and serious effort were the way to success, says longtime friend and colleague Bob Byers, owner of Ravenna Volvo.

Byers, who went to work for Mr. Grant at a used-car lot in Everett in 1955, said many Seattle car dealers got their start working for Grant.

"Glen was a great tutor," said Byers, immediate past president of the Washington State Auto Dealers Association. "He taught us that it takes a lot of hard work and that nothing comes easy, but if you stick with it, it can pay off."

A lifelong Washington resident, Mr. Grant was born in the

Whitman County town of Malden. He attended Washington State University and the University of Puget Sound, where he earned degrees in engineering and physics.

During World War II, he served in the Marines in the South Pacific.

Grant's death came two weeks shy of his 55th wedding anniversary to his wife, Helen, who survives at the family home in Kirkland. Survivors also include sons Douglas and Tom of Auburn, and daughter Carole Harrington of Everett.

Grant, an admitted "car nut," passed his enthusiasm along to his sons. Tom Grant will now operate the Burien dealership, and Douglas Grant will operate Parkland Chevrolet, a dealership the family opened three weeks ago in the Tacoma area.

Douglas Grant said his father taught him that customer satisfaction was the key to success and longevity in the car business. "And he always told me the fun thing about the car business was you ran five businesses in one - used cars, new cars, service, parts and finance."

Mr. Grant was a member of the Nile Temple of the Shrine, the Bellevue Athletic Club, the Washington Athletic Club, the Puget Sound Auto Dealers Association, the Northwest Chevrolet Dealers Association and the Washington State Auto Dealers Association. He had been an avid tennis player and jogger.

Services are pending. Remembrances may be made to 911 or the American Heart Association.