You'd be hard pressed to find an American icon more intrinsically linked to the dark side of the American dream than Johnny Cash. Equal parts rebel, musician, addict, and God-fearing gospel singer, The Man in Black's lyrics unapologetically drip with southern-fried Americana, the majority of his vast catalog revolving around romance, steam trains, automobiles, substance abuse, and the twin pillars of country music: sin and redemption.
It's in this spirit that we ourselves feeling just a little betrayed that J.C.'s automotive tastes occasionally strayed from Detroit iron, the singer being documented as having an affinity for Rolls-Royce motorcars. The 1970 Silver Shadow shown here, which was brought to our attention by Hemmings Motor News, is slated to cross the block at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Las Vegas scheduled for September 25–27.
Somehow the lyric "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die" loses a little impact if you picture the gunman pulling the trigger from the back seat of a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce limousine. But before declaring Cash's ownership of a Silver Shadow an act of treason, understand that the Roller was ordered and gifted to the man by ABC television. As the story goes, his TV show maintained reasonable ratings for its 58-episode run, and, despite a little friction between executives and Cash's no-nonsense, hard-living style, ABC wished to award him for his efforts. (Curiously, Cash's recording contract at the time was with Columbia records, an affiliate of the CBS, a direct competitor of ABC.)
The long-wheelbase "Saloon" is equipped with a partition to seal away the driver's compartment and has accumulated only 32,000 miles to date. The factory build-to-order sheet is included, and "JRC" initials appear in gold on the rear doors. Additional documentation includes a Tennessee registration and multiple published references to Cash having owned it. Silver Shadows were popular cars, with Hemmings reporting that roughly 36,200 were produced of all variants, so values have remained at reasonably affordable levels; whether or not the celebrity provenance will add to the hammer price is uncertain. In a November 2013 episode of Pawn Stars, the car was pitched to Rick and the crew at $350,000 but failed to change hands even after the seller reduced the price by $150K. In 2010, Hemmings estimated Silver Shadow values at between $15,000 and $25,000.
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With the Rolls-Royce specifics out of the way, please join us in returning to the place in our subconscious where Mr. Cash pilots only huge locomotives, paddlewheel river boats, Cadillacs, and Lincolns, with the occasional Chevrolet convertible and straight-eight equipped Packard thrown in for variety.
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/nSHy27
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