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NORTH ATTLEBORO - If you happened to spot Doris McAllister zipping through the streets of North Attleboro in her Mustang convertible, you'd likely never guess that she is 100 years old.

Well, almost 100. McAllister will officially celebrate the century mark on Saturday, but had an early birthday celebration at the senior center on Wednesday.

"I can't believe how the time flies," she said. "It feels like it's been forever."

She may have been born one year before the Model T Ford debuted in 1907, but McAllister loves her '85 Mustang, complete with handicapped plates.

While she doesn't drive in the dark, she does motor around town to visit the senior center for her knitting circle and to pick up groceries. "I can't do a lot of standing or walking, but I can still drive," McAllister said. "I just love to drive."

McAllister was born and raised in North Attleboro and has lived most of her life in town - with the exception of the 33 years she was married, when she lived in Pennsylvania.

She moved back to town after her husband died and hasn't left since.

She grew up in the Route 120 area and has vivid memories of the construction of the nearby reservoir.

"It was more of a mud hole than a reservoir back then. But I can remember horses pulling wagons when they were building it," McAllister said. "Back then, Hoppin Hill was a dirt road, and we would go sliding down the hill in the winter.

"My father told a story about me hitting a tree and going head over heals into a snow bank, but I was too young to remember that."

Reflecting over the past 100 years, McAllister said she is struck by how much North Attleboro has changed.

"It isn't the same as it used to be, but I guess that's the way it is everywhere," she said.

McAllister said she couldn't give a definitive secret to longevity, but an argument could be made about her family's good genes.

Her younger brother, Ralph Bumpus, also a North Attleboro resident, is also still going strong and will be 97 in June. "My brother said he must have done something right to be 97, and I said, well, I must have done something really right since I'm going to be 100," McAllister said with a smile.