72-year-old Harlem man caught with $1,300,000 worth of weed.

Saturday, February 23rd 2008, 4:00 AM

A Manhattan senior celebrated his 72nd birthday by trying to smuggle what cops say was more than $1 million in marijuana down the East Coast - and almost got away with it.

But the alleged elderly drug mule, Rodell Cole, got busted in the parking lot of a Maryland 7-Eleven after getting into a fender-bender and trying to haul out the pot in front of a cop.

"It was stupid," Cole, a retired city painter, told the Daily News in a jailhouse interview. "I wasn't thinking it through. I've never been a hustler. I get Social Security. I get a pension from the City of New York."

Cole was taking a mindblowing 146.6 pounds of marijuana down South when he stopped for a coffee break at the New Carrollton, Md., convenience store, police said.

A cop who happened to be in the parking lot watched Cole back his silver Toyota Camry into a car, police said. After a routine check, cops found the Spanish Harlem man was driving with a suspended South Carolina license.

Cole was charged with several drug offenses, including possession with intent to distribute and possession of a controlled dangerous substance. His bail was set at $1 million.

He said he had simply cut a deal with a guy from his neighborhood to drive the car down to the Carolinas, he claimed. "They said no questions asked, $500," Cole, who suffers from cataracts, told The News. "It was just a chance to make a couple of dollars."