Celebrity cars are a bit of a niche market. While it is neat to say you have Jon Voight’s LeBaron, they normally don’t command a huge price unless it’s something really special. This 2001 Lincoln Town Car was built for June and Johnny Cash and can be found here on Barrett-Jackson.com where it was auctioned Wednesday at their Scottsdale 2020 event. The car brought a final price (with buyer’s premium) of $16,500, which is nearly four times the used car value of this car with no celebrity connection. Let’s check out more and thanks to Russell G. for the tip on this car.
Here you can see the plaque that makes no mistake of who the car was built for. According to the auction info., after June Carter Cash passed away in 2003, Johnny gave the Lincoln to neighbors in Jamaica. They shipped the car to their home in Germany and have owned it since. It shows less than 30K miles on the odometer and will be a nice addition to the buyer’s collection.
Of course, the car is black. It has the continental-style trunk and looks like it has been pampered for its life. So, what do you think of celebrity cars? Do you desire to own one? Would you pay three or four times what a typical car is worth just because it has a celebrity or movie connection?
Wait….the neighbors were in Jamaica? You mean Jamaica TN, or Jamaica in the Caribbean? Then they shipped the car to Germany, but the car was auctioned off in Scottsdale? I’m confused.
Agree, bizarre. Surely this is not correct.
Johnny Cash owned the oldest house in Jamaica near Montego Bay in which a lady from England called the Great White Witch lived until a new house was built for her. The road to the house was pretty much impassable without a four wheel vehicle which Johnny wanted it that way to discourage tourists from interrupting his getaway peace and quiet. The car must have been parked somewhere other than the house because there was no way it could be driven to and from the house.
Or Jamaica Queens?
Johnny had a second house in Jamaica for a long time.
Also famously robbed there in the early 80s.
A stock Lincoln Cartier L with chrome b pillar cover and personalized dash plaque.
Johnny could afford many of these :-)
Johnny & June had a home in Jamaica in the Caribbean. Sounds like the car has more miles in a shipping container than on the odometer.
in 1995 i bought a 1965 cadillac limousine in really rough but running shape from an elderly woman. she had bought it from the estate of jerry lee lewis when he got in trouble with the IRS. it was $500. this was in Nashville. I daily drove it for a couple years.
Ever since David Koresh’s ‘68 Camaro got auctioned off as a “celebrity” Car I got sour to such vehicles. By no means I’m I comparing the Cash family car to that scum but at the end of the day, it’s just another car.
3.4 million for a movie mustang, NO WAY.
Iconic film though. 3.4m is nothing to a select few.
I’m pretty sure this car has been to
Reno, Chicago, Fargo, Minnesota,
Buffalo, Toronto, Winslow, Sarasota,
Wichita, Tulsa, Ottawa, Oklahoma,
Tampa, Panama, Mattawa, La Paloma,
Bangor, Baltimore, Salvador, Amarillo,
Tocopilla, Barranquilla, and Padilla…….well everywhere, man.
But with less than 30 thousand miles though? lol
Using Google maps and some google searches total miles equals about 35,000 miles. Johnny’s driver might of known some short cuts. lol. I would of purchased the car, as my mother is June’s 3rd cousin, but I did not know it was up for sale. The new owner has a piece of history and I am sure the next time it is for sale the price will be much higher.
You forgot Jamaica!
lolololol
This could be Jamaica Queens too. The guys left out Jamaica Queens.
Fix that saggy rear end
That’s what he said.
That’s what I told your wife.
Celebrity cars…
Paul Lynde’s pink (fill in blank) with Flames
“I always wanted one that was long and black”…
J. Cash
I have a loaded 2006 Honda Accord EXL/navi with 250,000 miles and a v6 with bad bottom end noise. I purchased from Penske Honda/Indy as a demo with celebrity creds being used by his 2006 Indy Car team that May.
I’ll start the biding at 4x scrap and waive the buyer’s premium!
Gotta admit it would be cool to own a car that belonged to Johnny Cash
Really? Why? Do you actually know anyone that would care? It is just a used Lincoln worth $3K on a good day.
I like the idea of these modern legacy cars, but I just can’t get excited by the newer designs. To me, they just don’t have much personality. It isn’t a criticism, it was just that the older car designs had so much more individuality.
I think that $16 grand would be a fair price for this car. I hate to think of what it cost Johnny. Now, the one piece at a time Cadillac would be on the other end of the scale. I still like that song.
Bob
One piece at a time video and song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18cW_yHo3PY
Museum display
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHJvEXMUHrg
Bob
Well, the original Bruce Fitzpatrick 49-70 Cadillac was in the Cash Museum which closed in 1985,
Fitzpatrick brought a wrecker to the museum and had it crushed. Who knew?
I mean, I personally wouldn’t want to own this thing, It was a ghastly thing by the end of the day.
The transmission was a 53 and the motor turned out to be a 73…
The engraved plaque is easily faked. Hope there was more documentation than that! For what it’s worth, I have owned Audrey Hepburn’s Rolls-Royce and a Bentley that belonged to one of the Beach Boys. Did you know that Charles Manson once owned a star spangled Hillman Minx? I could have had that car for free but . . .
Cash had a resort home in Jamaica.
He was once taken captive there by a gang, and ransom demands were made.
I forget how it all ended.
They were robbed. Police caught the guys and had them painting the prison walls. The guards “forgot” to bring in the ladder. When the crooks used it to go over the wall, they were shot & killed for trying to escape. This was on Johnny’s biography
What a POS.
Why’s that?
Gaudy, slathered in chrome, gold, vinyl, just an pretentious barge. I didn’t think of Johnny Cash that way, but what do I know?
I’m always amazed and humbled by articulate eloquence.
And most guys would give their left nut to buy it if the price was right, gold, chrome or whatever else would be a bonus. To some the name plate is worth more than the car if you’re a dyed in the wool Johnny Cash fan from way back.
What did you guys think, he rode around in a train car?
This is a stock 2001 Lincoln Town Car Cartier L.
Lincoln made thousands, half of them are black for use as limos.
Custom features are the chrome “b” pillar and the dash plaque.
Buy one on eBay, get a dash plaque made, you will be a karaoke star!
I just watched Bullitt last night, I did not see #1 camera mounts, #2 footage from said camera mounts..Wazup widat?
Maybe some of y’all may have some input..
Not sure why all the stupid comments are necessary ?
This is a cool car with a cool history sold at a decent price.
Johnny probably gave it away cause he was tired of fixing the air ride, these people who are selling it, are probably tired of fixing the air ride too. I owned Lincoln’s for a good part of my life, before air ride, and during air ride, I drive a
Mercedes now, cause I don’t want to see the name Lincoln, cause it reminds me of fixing air ride, even though they don’t have it anymore
Don’t buy a Mercedes 600 then!
Agreed
I took my air suspension bags out of both
My Navigator
And my Town cars
I had Lincoln taxi fleet —Couple hundred bucks for quality heavy duty springs-
Free delivery
Ride is still smooth glide as before and expected of my Lincoln’s
I Still have my Luxe truck and kept one Town car
Love all aspects of Lincolns Luxury
The air suspension was always a terrible issue
One up one down
Tire inflation imbalances
All ridiculous
Constant stressor every drive
My Navigator has 421,000 miles and I won’t sell it
Love those spring kits
Ive owned Mercedes
Volvo
Bmws
•The Lincoln delivers in Luxe & you cant beat the 4.6 engine—all my taxis had over 400,000 hard miles by drivers who did not take proper care much less preventative maintenance.still top mechanical shape all dependable stat run drive like a dream
•The Bmws thumbs up /well rounded/ luxe enough /sport /dependable
•The Volvo =electrical problem stiff box cars
Mercedes heavy stiff boxes like Volvo
But!
We are comparing domestic Ford product to semi-exotics!
That speaks volumes
Honestly, I loved all my Lincoln’s, to this day my last MK VIII LSC my favorite at of all times, owned a Lexus hated it, BMW 545i hated it, rode like a truck, now don’t laugh, all the Benzs I’ve owned, I’ve loved and they had air suspension, never had a problem
I gotta say…….owning this geezermobile is somewhat at odds with Cash’s musical and cultural persona…..imho. I’m a big fan of Johnny Cash’s music but not of this bloated barge.
Now I know that we (I) invest all sorts of attributes in the heroes of our collective musical memory…and they put their pants on one leg at a time just like us.
But…….this? Knowing that this was owned by Cash…………who ought to have been driving a ’55 Chevy 2 door coupe with a floor mounted shift…..well…..just shatters my fantasies.
I think he’s always been a Lincoln fan. I remember him doing commercials in the 70s, with a black Lincoln Mark IV or Mark V! I believe it was for STP, but it was black!
Celebrity cars are only valuable to a huge fan. They never really go up in value.
In early spring 1954 Johnny Cash had been hired to do a series of radio ads for Plymouth. During recording, Cash casually commented the ’54 Plymouth Savoy he had owned as being “the best car I ever owned”. F. G. Hazelroth, Plymouth’s General Sales Manager picked up on the statement and decided Plymouth should sponsor a contest to find a replacement ’54 Savoy for Cash. Postcards were printed and sent to the dealer body for distribution. The car chosen, which was to be given to Cash, would be replaced with a new 1972 Plymouth Gran Coupe with automatic transmission, AM radio, whitewalls, power steering and power brakes – plus its owner would get to meet Cash at the 1972 Indiana State Fair. 319 entries were received from 40 different states. James J. Bradley, Director of Automotive History at the Detroit Public Library was chosen to examine the top contenders and choose which car would get the honor. The car chosen was purchased new and still owned by 77-year old Edith Hill of Tacoma, Washington. The car, with just 14,500 miles on it, had been purchased from Steven Motor Company in Tacoma. Edith was present when the car was presented to Cash at the Fair on August 28, 1972. Because production of the 1972 models had already ended by that time, Edith was presented with a 1973 Gran Coupe instead. Some years later I corresponded with the Cash family about the car but it seems it had been given to Johnny’s long-time bass player and the trail ended there. Whatever became of Johnny Cash’s “Best Car I Ever Owned” 1954 Plymouth Savoy 4 door is unknown at this time……
Very cool. As was Johnny Cash. RIP
Rest assured Cash fans, the car is being well taken care of. Im a big fan and car collector and I just couldnt help myself and bought the car. The air ride is just fine, she is leveled out and looking good! Freshly detailed too. And YES, there was more proof of his ownership than just the dash plaque! :) If by chance anyone has ANY pictures of John or June in or around this car I would love to hear from you…thanks!
It’s a 49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59, automobile….
I like the Continental Kit on the back! Wonder where that came from?
Great news Jeremy! Glad to see the car will be taken good care of, as it deserves. All the best.