Aerosmith's rusty, abandoned van was plucked from the boonies by hosts of the History Channel's "American Pickers," who recovered the vehicle decades after it was put to rest in the woods in Massachusetts.
The iconic rock band has dominated the charts for years, but before Aerosmith made it big the band paid its dues, traveling New England in a beaten up 1964 International Harvester Metro van, waiting for their big break to come, CBS News noted.
Sometime in the 1970s, the band abandoned that vehicle in the woods of Chesterfield, a town about 100 miles west of Boston, and it remained there undisturbed, until now.
In an episode of "American Pickers," aired on July 30, show hosts Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz took a drive to the town to follow up on the van, which has been sitting on the property of a man identified as Phil, who said he bought the land with the vehicle on it.
"This guy is deep in the woods, he's off the grid, and I keep thinking to myself, 'what the heck would this van be doing here?" Wolf said in the episode, according to CBS News.
The show hosts were prepared to pay a hefty amount for the van, but first they needed to verify that it did once belong to Aerosmith.
They tracked down founding band member Ray Tabano, who happened to be in a nearby area at the time, and he confirmed what they had suspected.
"I'm afraid to say how long it is, but it's been like 40 years since we've been in this thing," Tabano said, recalling the band's early days, according to Ultimate Classic Rock.
"We'd drive from Boston up to New Hampshire for $125 [show fee]," he reminisced. "Then after the gas, the tolls, and the food and back, we'd make like $3 apiece. … It just reminded me of the humble beginnings and I look at where (the band has) gone today — it's just amazing."
This was all Wolfe and Fritz needed to hear before forking out $25,000 to Phil for the van.
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