'Pawn Stars' guest brings a missile and Rick Harrison asks 'should I call Homeland Security now?'
Guests on “Pawn Stars” are known to bring the most unexpected and lethal items, including guns concealed in an old desk and even crutches. But even after that, nothing could prepare viewers to see a guidance system for heat-seeking missiles changing hands for $550 on the show. Rick Harrison wasn’t even sure if it was legal for anyone to own this thing, let alone sell it to a pawn shop. Thankfully, the owner had official documents from the US Navy Department that said that she could legally own it.
The guest said that her father used to do military surplus bidding in the ‘70s and ‘80s. He had bid on 400 empty shipping containers in a government auction for just $25. Inside some of those boxes were these guidance systems. This story was so crazy that Harrison could not believe it. Even old man Richard Harrison was at a loss about what to do. “Rick, this is a first,” he said.
The guest explained that it was an infrared heat seeker for the Sidewinder missiles. She also said that they used to be attached to the F-4 Phantoms. Once Harrison saw that the guest had the paperwork to make her a legal owner of the item, he revealed his other concerns. The 60-year-old had no idea about the value of such an item or if it was even legal to buy or sell one.
“It’s really interesting,” Harrison said. “What I’m trying to figure out is…I mean, are they worth any money? I mean, I don’t know if this thing is worthless. I don’t know if it’s worth $20,000. I don’t even know if it is legal to own one of these things. The last thing in the world I want to do is end up on the no-fly list.”
Harrison, therefore, decided to call in a friend of his who was an expert on the matter. The expert was a man named Matthew who was a TOPGUN graduate and a former US Navy Blue Angel pilot. Even he could not believe that a civilian could own such an item. “They showed me documents and paperwork, so they’re legal to own it. It’s very rare to have that outside of a military base,” he said.
The expert then described how the guidance system worked and how the US had an advantage in the early part of the Vietnam War thanks to this technology. However, one such device was compromised and taken by the Russians across the Iron Curtain, and America’s advantage in the war was neutralized later on. That’s probably one of the reasons why they lost in such a manner.
When it came to putting a value on it, the expert said that it had zero commercial value. However, aviation enthusiasts, collectors of items of war, or aviation museums might be willing to pay a decent amount of money for it. The guest wanted $3,000 for it, but Harrison had no idea where to even sell it. His money would be tied up for a long time, and he wasn't going to pay more than $550.
The guest had no choice but to accept the offer, since she was not sure what the guidance system was worth. However, she revealed that she had more of them lying in her home, all of which she could own legally.
