American Pickers' Mike Wolfe got into an ugly fight with Frank Fritz months before his death: "What the..."
'American Pickers' stars Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz once got involved in a heated argument on the History Channel show. During a May 2024 episode titled 'Quest for the Holy Grail', Wolfe got furious after learning that Fritz had paid way too much for a junkyard item. The episode showed Fritz in complete awe of a vintage Plymouth Coupe, which had been sitting in a dusty underground bunker for nearly four decades. Fritz decided to shell out $5,500 for the vehicle, however, he regretted his decision later on.
According to Daily Mail, Fritz gushed over the car in a private confessional and said, "When I saw that Plymouth Coupe, it looked like a nice original car, it had original paint, it had been sheltered for the last 35 years and it just liked a unique piece. I don't generally just buy cars, I'm more of a motorcycle guy, but I love the lines on it." Due to his great interest in the car, Fritz decided to offer $5,000 to the owner, which left Wolfe completely speechless. "Whoa. All of a sudden he's spending our money and I'm like, 'What the hell is he talking about? What car? Why is he interested in it?"' Wolfe quipped at that time.
Initially, the owner of the vehicle confessed that he had no interest in selling the Plymouth Coupe, but Frank pulled all the stops to convince him. Eventually, the two reached an agreement and closed on a $5,500 deal. In a confessional, Wolfe shared his thoughts on Fritz's purchase and said, "We were on the road a couple of extra days and that car for some reason kept haunting me. Man, I just can't get that Plymouth Coup out of my mind. Frankie was all wound up on this car because he's a dreamer, man. He sees himself behind the seat of that thing, his arm around his girl, and he's chilling out going down the road."
After the deal was finalized, Wolfe and Fritz made some arrangements for the car to be picked up and delivered at their home base in LeClaire, Iowa. However, Fritz's dreams for the car came crashing when his close friend Dave Ohrt prized it as being somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000. "I see it's in very good condition, but if you did a ground-up restoration on it, you're going to put more into it than it's worth, in my opinion," Ohrt told Fritz.
As soon as Wolfe discovered the estimated value of the car, his heart sank. During a confessional, Wolfe talked about the car and shared, "That car was a bust. He [Frank] needs to learn he cannot have everything, and he needs to learn when to walk away. If you want that car, you're going to have to call some dealers. I don't care what you do, we're not paying Danielle more hours to try and sell it, and we're not paying for ads. I don't know what to do."
Just before leaving, Wolfe told Fritz, "You always get your own way on stuff." At the end of the episode, Fritz disclosed that he hadn't been able to shift the vehicle even a year and a half after it was purchased. "The Plymouth is my baby. I took a little hit on it, and I haven't been able to sell it, so for now, I'm going to enjoy it myself. [I've had to fix] the motor, the transmission, the brakes, the radiator, the alternator, the pumps, the fuel pumps. I mean, this thing has been top to bottom," Fritz concluded.
Fritz died on September 30, 2024, after suffering complications from a stroke. At the time of his death, Fritz was 60 years old. According to People magazine, the heartbreaking news of Fritz's demise was confirmed by Wolfe via an Instagram post. "It’s with a broken heart that I share with all of you that Frank passed away last night. I’ve known Frank for more than half my life and what you’ve seen on TV has always been what I have seen, a dreamer who was just as sensitive as he was funny. The same off-camera as he was on, Frank had a way of reaching the hearts of so many by just being himself. Who would have ever dreamed we would share the cockpit of a white cargo van in front of millions of people interested in our adventures," Wolfe captioned the post.
View this post on Instagram
"Before the show, we would take off together to places we never knew existed with no destination in mind and just the shared passion to discover something interesting and historic. We’ve been on countless trips and shared so many miles and I feel blessed that I was there by his side when he took one last journey home. I love you buddy and will miss you so much I know you're in a better place," Wolfe concluded.