Mack Keen, Retired, General Motors; Bristol, Virginia:
“I have the ’53 Caddy Convertible that I’ve owned for 42 years, it came out of St. Louis, Missouri to Michigan, I lived in Michigan when I redone it. Then I have a ’56 Crown Victoria, red and white, I’ve got a ’55 Victoria that’s yellow and black, I got a blue and white ’56 Club Sedan and I got a ’65 fastback Mustang. That’s all.”
“I’m retired from the GM engine plant in Flint, Michigan. I retired in ’94. I’m originally from over in Buchanan County (Virginia). I left in ’65 and went to Michigan and went to work in the automobile factory. I worked in the coal mines, and that wasn’t no good. My dad got killed in the coal mines, so I worked about three months inside and decided there was a better way.”
“I came back in ’94 after 30 years. I worked in the engine plant and we were making 327s and 283s when I was hired in, but we were making 350s when I left. They built the whole case, crank and everything there. They built the complete engine. I don’t know. The country folks are a little more laid back than the city folks are. They’re always goin’ and a’comin’ and don’t pay much attention to a lot of stuff. That has a lot to do with it, I guess.”
“It was always my plan to come back here. City life ain’t for me, but I enjoyed the time I lived there. When we were first married, and the kids were small, we would come back three or four times a summer. (Here) you come and you go as you please. Up there, if you don’t run 65-70 mph you get run over.”