Chris Janson recalls acquiring Johnny Paycheck’s limousine from “big-time investor”

ABC/Disney Parks

Chris Janson has a passion that not many can boast: collecting cars and memorabilia owned by country music legends.

“I bought Johnny Cash‘s coat and a lot of memorabilia a while back. And Minnie Pearl‘s Cadillac. I bought it all in one day,” Chris tells ABC Audio. “While I was at this place where the Minnie Pearl [Cadillac] was … there was this black limousine Cadillac, and I was like, ‘Oh my God.’”

“It said ‘Paycheck,’ and it was Johnny Paycheck‘s. He custom-ordered it in 1970,” recalls Chris. “It’s a Fleetwood 77. That’s what the model is. But it’s a 1970 year. It’s got 60,000 miles; original, all original car. Custom interior, the whole deal. TV, fridge.”

It was almost like love at first sight for Chris. He knew he had to own this limousine, even if it meant acquiring it from a “big-time investor in Nashville” who had already bought it.

“I just bugged the guy basically and had some other people bug him too — they kind of knew him a little better — until he finally just gave in and sold it to me,” shares Chris.

Chris is #8 on the country charts with “All I Need Is You,” the lead single off his latest album, The Outlaw Side Of Me, which arrived in June 2023.