One Piece at a Time

"One Piece at a Time" is a humorous country song by Johnny Cash, released in 1976. It tells a story from the point of view of an auto worker who saw Cadillacs roll by day after day on the assembly line, knowing that he would never be able to afford one on his salary. He decides to steal one, literally one piece at a time.

Like "A Boy Named Sue" the song tells a somewhat absurd story and uses the same A-A-C B-B-C rhyme structure.

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.

In the auto worker's envy, he decides to steal a Cadillac and to avoid getting caught he decides not to steal an assembled car, but instead decides to engage in low-tech salami slicing, thus stealing the car "one piece at a time." The worker steals the small parts through 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 as a result of its being created from parts of various models (years), requiring extensive effort to make the differing parts fit. The vehicle title weighed 60 pounds (27 kg) requiring the entire staff at the courthouse to type it.

Some of the car's features

• Headlights - two on the left, one on the right. All three turn on when the switch is pulled out.
• One tailfin.
• Transmission from 1953, engine from 1973. Engine runs "like a song" after mismatched mounting holes are drilled out and an adaptor kit is installed.
• His CB handle was "Cotton Mouth" and he called the car the "Psychobilly Cadillac."
• The oldest parts were from 1949, the latest from the mid 1970s.

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