Global General

Special

Newsmaker

Asia Pacific

America

Middle East

Europe

Africa

Man continues decades-old Cadillac-a-year habit

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-08-21 17:34

FLINT - There are loyal customers, and then there's Joseph Macko.

The 84-year-old Flint man has bought or leased a new Cadillac every year since 1955, the year Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif., and Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Ala., bus.

Related readings:  Special Supplement: Cadillac's new CTS powers into China  Beyonce Knowles hopping aboard "Cadillac"  Car maker to raise production capacity

"You only live one time. Money is to spend," he told The Flint Journal. "I spend it once I get it."

Macko, a retired General Motors Corp. worker, used to buy a new car every year, but he's been leasing the last few years. Last week, he drove home this year's fresh set of wheels - a black 2009 Cadillac DTS - from the Al Serra Auto Plaza in Grand Blanc.

"He looks forward every year to buying a new car," said Gordon Taylor, who has been Macko's salesman for 22 years. "He wants that same vehicle."

Marcella Macko says her husband isn't the spendthrift he might seem - he saves up all year to pay for a new car.

But, she said, she just doesn't get excited anymore about the annual ritual.

"He does, but I don't," she said.