Man Develops “Cadillac” Addiction for Over Five Decades

FLINT, Mich. -- A Cadillac addiction can be a hard habit to kick...Just ask Joseph Macko, who years ago gave up on trying to kick the habit.

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.

"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 the last 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.

His wife, Marcella Macko, said the annual trip to the dealership for Joseph Macko to trade in his old car and take delivery of his new one is something she just doesn't get excited about anymore.

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