'Pawn Stars' boss Rick Harrison thought he got a good deal on a car — his mechanic had some bad news
Rick Harrison might give Corey Harrison and Chumlee a lot of grief for costing the store money on "Pawn Stars," but he's not flawless either. The 60-year-old businessman has made some bad purchases in the past, with one of the most memorable being a 1964 Austin Healey. The funniest part of it all was that Harrison genuinely believed that he had scored a good deal and could make a decent profit, only to find out that he was going to lose thousands instead.
In an earlier episode of the show, a guest came to Harrison with the 1964 Austin Healey and asked for $10,000. The pawn store owner was hesitant about the price, but he knew that the vintage car had a strong collector’s market, which would have helped him flip it quickly. Of course, he still wasn’t going to pay a five-figure sum for an antique car that didn’t even start when he turned the key. The guest, however, insisted that he had driven the car to the shop.
At the time, a dead battery seemed to be the issue, and the guest believed that the car just needed some fine-tuning. Normally, Harrison calls in an expert to evaluate items that he did not have much expertise in, but that didn't happen in this case. He strongly believed that he’d be able to turn a profit with the automobile, as long as he could buy it for $4,000. After some negotiation, the price was raised to $5,000.
Harrison then decided to take the car over to his friend Wally at Rusty Nuts Rods and Customs to get it up and running. And that’s when he realized that he should have brought Wally along when he met the previous owner of the car. “Unfortunately, I’ve got some bad news for you, Rick,” the mechanic said, much to his dismay. Wally then explained that the car’s engine was busted and needed to be replaced. He had already taken out the crankshaft, which he described as the heart of the engine. At this point, Harrison realised that he had seriously messed up. “As soon as he said crankshaft, I got a bad feeling because I know how big of a deal it is to replace a crankshaft,” he said. Wally revealed that it would take $6,000 to repair the car.
Considering that the most money that Harrison thought he could get for the car was $8,000, this was not ideal. Now, he faced the unenviable task of breaking his unfortunate news to his father, his son, and Chumlee. Richard Harrison famously does not react well to losing money, especially when it comes to his son, who has been doing this job for years. “Well, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. I am p***ed,” he said.
“When Rick shoots from the hip, sometimes he hits a bullseye and sometimes he misses the damn target, and that costs us money, and I hate losing money,” he added. It was pretty entertaining to watch the father and son duo argue about the deal, and Corey and Chumlee loved every second of it.
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