American Pickers hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz scored the haul of a lifetime when they stumbled onto the original tour van of American rock band Aerosmith. The van in question is a 1964 International Harvester Metro Van, and apparently, it’s been sitting and rotting on a piece of property near the town of Chesterfield in western Massachusetts all these years. The van is completely authentic as Aerosmith founding member Ray Tabano confirmed after visiting the property himself during the same episode of the History Channel show.

I’m a fan of the show American Pickers, and I’ve seen the guys unearth some of the most awesome barnyard finds you can imagine. But this one takes the cake. It’s not just because it was once used by one of America’s greatest rock bands. It’s not even because it has strong historical ties to all things Americana. It’s because it’s a 1964 International Harvester Metro Van. Seriously, when was the last time you saw a Harvester Metro Van?

The story behind this discovery is pretty cool, too. According to American Pickers, the van had been sitting buried in the woods when the current property owner bought the land. He’d heard that the previous owner had some ties to Aerosmith, but he didn’t think too much of the crusty van to even follow up on its history.

It wasn’t until the show’s hosts, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, showed up and paid $25,000 for the van that its history was unearthed. To confirm its authenticity, Wolfe called a member of the band The Black Keys, who rung up current Aerosmith lead guitarist Joe Perry, who then reached out to Ray Tabano, one of the band’s founding members. Through the magic of Hollywood editing, Tabano showed up on the property to look at the van. Not only did he confirm that the band used the van, he even brought some pictures taken decades ago of himself with the same exact van, side graphics included. Legitimacy confirmed!

Now that Wolfe and Fritz own the cool but otherwise decrepit van, the next and most logical step is to give it a full and proper restoration. The hosts have said that’s exactly what they plan to do, which is a no-brainer considering the kind of provenance attached to this Metro Van. This is a one-of-a-kind score with direct ties to American music history. There’s no reason why it shouldn’t get properly restored, even if it costs more than the amount they paid for it. And if for nothing else, wouldn’t you want to see a 1964 International Harvester Metro Van get restored in all its glory? I know I would.

It’s unclear what Wolfe and Fritz plan to do with the van once its restored, but there’s a good chance that it’s going to be auctioned off at some event in the future. Imagine the kind of money it’s going to attract when that happens.

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