ONE PIECE AT A TIME

[65cuda]

"One Piece at a Time" is a humorous country song written by Wayne Kemp [1] and recorded by Johnny Cash in 1976. It tells a story from the point of view of a Detroit auto worker who watches Cadillacs roll by day after day on the assembly line, all the while knowing that he will never be able to afford one on his salary. Envious, he decides to steal a Cadillac, avoiding getting caught by taking parts from the factory, as the title suggests, one piece at a time (presumably one part per day). The worker takes the small parts by hiding them in his large lunchbox, while larger parts are smuggled out via his friend's mobile home. Many years later, he finally achieves his goal, albeit with a very odd-looking vehicle: it was created from parts of many different models (years 1949 to 1973), requiring extensive effort to make all the parts fit together. The vehicle title weighed 60 pounds, requiring the entire staff at the courthouse to type it.

Bruce Fitzpatrick, owner of Abernathy Auto Parts and Hilltop Auto Salvage in Nashville, TN, was asked by the promoters of the song to build the vehicle for international promotion. Bruce had all the different models of Cadillacs mentioned in the song when it was released, and built a Cadillac using the song as a model. The car was presented to Cash in April of 1976. It was parked for a few weeks outside The House Of Cash in Hendersonville, Tennessee, until someone could find a place to store it.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=59H4S-a8Wj4