Craig Green of Presque Isle stands next to his vintage Cadillac after receiving the Augustus Post Memorial Award from the Antique Automobile Club of America. (Paul Bagnall | Star Herald)
PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — City Councilman and businessman Craig Greene was honored by the Antique Automobile Club of America at its annual meeting in Washington, D.C.
Craig Green was honored on February 10 for his work in recreating the spirit of the original Glidden Tour, a promotional event conducted across the United States by AAA from 1904 to 1913 and aimed at increasing automobile acceptance. Winner of the Augustus Post Memorial Award.
The vehicle was gifted to Green after the city organized an Antique Auto Tour in Presque Isle for vehicles built before 1932. Approximately 30 vehicles will tour various historic sites in Mapleton, Portage, Limestone, Loring, Easton and Mars Hill. To name a few examples.
“My true passion is Cadillac, Buick, Oldsmobile and General Motors big cars,” Green said. “Model T is fun because everyone waves at me.”
Mr. Green has owned between 25 and 30 cars for more than a century. Green’s oldest car is his 1917 Model T Ford, which is on display at Aroostook Center Mall, and his newest car is his 2023 Cadillac. He has always been interested in antique cars.
Green began attending the Antique Automobile Club of America regional competition in Hershey, Pa., in 2001 and has participated for the past 22 years. Starting a car collection now costs much more than when he started. Mr. Green paid only $500 for his car.
Greene’s parents drove a 1969 Oldsmobile. When he turned 7, they bought a new car but kept the old one. Throughout the 1980s and his 1990s, Green and his family collected fenders and parts from his 1969 Oldsmobile. Once Green graduated from college in his 1993, they began building his 1969 Oldsmobile, which was restored by 1994.
He drives antique cars every week, but he doesn’t have a favorite model. Green likes things that remind him of nostalgic times and places and remind him of friends, family, and history from his past.
Green is also affiliated with the Presque Isle Historical Society, which has used his 1996 Cadillac hearse for its annual “Haunted Hearse Tour” in the city since 2019.
Greene’s Augustus Post Memorial Award was first awarded by AAA in 1953 and later by the Automobile Club of America in 1959.