ST. PAUL  (AP) - The last vehicle is expected to roll off the line at the Ford Motor Co. plant in St. Paul on Friday, ending 86 years of auto-making at the site.

A group of St. Paul residents are planning to gather outside the plant to cheer for the 800 remaining employees and mark the end of an era.

St. Paul resident Katherine Werner is one of the organizers. She says there's no political agenda, it's just a way to say goodbye to the plant where her grandfather worked for 35 years.

Thousands of employees have built more than 6 million vehicles since the plant was finished in 1925. It's been making the Ford Ranger small pickup for years.

Ranger sales have plummeted since peaking in the late 1990s.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved)

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