The Vehicle Rick Harrison Drives At 56 Is Impressive

Aug 18, 2021

Rick Harrison is an American reality television personality and the owner of the Gold and Silver Pawnshop in Las Vegas, Nevada. The store was originally opened by Harrison and his father in 1989, but he has been the sole owner since Richard "Old Man" Harrison passed away in 2018. Harrison is one of the stars of the reality series "Pawn Stars" on the History channel. 

"Pawn Stars" has been on air since 2009, when it was the channel's highest-rated show and the second-ranked reality show in the U.S. When the show debuted, it starred Harrison, his father, his son Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison, and Austin "Chumlee" Russell. The series shows the interpersonal relationships and conflicts among the cast and has been described as a combination of "Antiques Roadshow" and "Cops."  

The series showcases the interactions between the staff of the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop and their customers. The clientele brings in artifacts and other valuable items to be appraised and then sold or pawned. You can see some of the customers try to negotiate or haggle on the value of the items throughout the show. Harrison also takes the time to explain the history of each piece. 

In his personal life, Harrison has been married three times and has three sons from his first two marriages. His most recent marriage was in 2013 to Deanna Burditt. As a collector, one of Harrison's favorite things to find is both fancy and classic cars. However, what the reality TV star chooses to drive most of the time might surprise you. Keep reading to learn more about Harrison and his car collection.

Harrison was born in Lexington, North Carolina, on March 22, 1965. He is the third child of Richard "Old Man" Harrison and Joanne Rhue Harrison. His father was in the U.S. Navy prior to owning his pawn business. As a child, Harrison suffered from epileptic seizures that began at the age of eight. This condition would confine him to bed for long periods of time, and this led to Harrison's lifelong love of reading.

After his father's passing, Harrison and the entire crew of "Pawn Stars" were devastated. He told Fox News: "I think about him every day. I had a different relationship with him. Most people, when they turn 18, they go off to school, get a job and move out. I worked with my father from the time I was a kid. He stayed in the Navy for years because of me. Otherwise, it would have been really difficult with my medical expenses. But despite my epilepsy, he never treated me differently."

Harrison speaks highly of his father and credits him for teaching him many valuable lessons throughout his life. "He really changed my perspective on life and how words have meaning. That was one of the greatest life lessons he ever gave me… He was just an amazing individual. He taught that no matter what, you always take care of your kids, your family. If you have kids, you're a father for the rest of your life. He was an old-school kind of guy that I think we need more of," said Harrison.

Harrison dropped out of high school in the tenth grade to "pursue his $2,000-a-week business of selling fake Gucci bags," according to the History channel. The man began working in pawnshops when he was 13 and then saved up enough money to go into business with his father at 23.

When he was 17, Harrison married his high school sweetheart Kim, and the couple had two sons together named Corey and Adam. Unfortunately, they divorced shortly after Adam was born in 1985. 

Harrison met his second wife, Tracy, nine months later, and they moved in together after six months and were married by the eighth-month mark of their relationship. Tracy helped take care of Corey and Adam, and she and Harrison had a son together, Jake. Tracy and Harrison were together until their divorce in 2011.

Family Owned Business

After finally receiving their long-awaited pawn license, the Gold and Silver Pawn Shop opened up for business in 1989. Previously, Harrison and his father had opened a store called the Gold and Silver Coin Shop, but they felt opening a pawning business was a natural progression for their establishment. 

The star explained how the pawning business works to NPR. Harrison said, "Say you have a wedding band. You bring the wedding band into my store. I offer you $100 and you accept it. I give you the $100, plus a pawn ticket. You have 120 days to come back to my pawn shop and pick up your merchandise and pay me my money back."

Harrison continued:

"If you come back in 30 days, you give me $115. I hand you the ring back and everything's good in the world. Now, if you don't pay me back," he says, "I end up keeping the merchandise and I put it in my showcase for sale. Nothing goes on your credit report. No one chases you down to break any legs or anything like that. You just simply have lost your merchandise. It's that simple."

There are many challenges to owning a pawn business, and one major concern is buying or selling stolen items. Harrison explained:

"Most people don't realize how regulated the pawn industry is, especially where I'm at in Nevada. When I take something in pawn or I buy something, I just don't take an ID. I take their driver's license number, their height, their weight, their eye color, their build. I turn that into the local police department, and then I also turn it into Homeland Security. It's part of the Patriot Act, and that goes to a central database online across the United States that checks for stolen items."

Harrison also shared with NPR that he bought a pair of stolen earrings once for $40,000 and then had to return the item to its rightful owner, meaning he was out quite a lot of money. "It's the cost of doing business. That's the way I look at it. ... And Las Vegas is a crazy town at times. There's a lot of high-end things I get. So you have to know about ... really large diamonds, really expensive watches. ... So it's a lot different than most places," explained Harrison.

Harrison told Fox that his favorite items to see in the store are books. He said, "I collect books and one thing I would love to get are some books by Giordano Bruno, the martyr of science. He was absolutely one of the craziest figures in history. He was ultimately burned at the stake after being sentenced to death by the Roman Inquisition for his heretical ideas — everyone should learn about him at one point in their lives. His books were ultimately wiped out from existence. Obtaining one today is definitely up there for me."

The businessman also said that he has never regretted making, or not making, any deals in the past. Harrison told Fox News: 

"Whenever I talk about business to people, I always tell them, 'If the deal's not right, the deal's not right. Just walk away.' You can't think later, 'Maybe I should have bought this or that.' It's part of the business. Sometimes you have to be willing to walk away and not risk-taking on a bad deal. Imagine, you get people pretty much coming in every day and they're expecting this huge amount of money for something they found in their attic. And in reality, it's like no, that's not worth what he or she is expecting."

'Pawn Stars'

"Pawn Stars" has been on the air for 17 seasons now, with 577 episodes. The show is hugely successful and has fans from all around the world. The staff who work at the pawnshop are now celebrities in their own right. Harrison explained to Fox News why he thinks the show has been so successful:

"I think it's a lot of things. First off, most reality shows are pretty much scripted. Mine is not. And it's truly different every week. You can have a show about motorcycles or cars, but there's only so much you can do with a motorcycle or a car every week. And people want to learn, but they don't want to feel like they're sitting around with a professor. I give all the history lessons and I make learning entertaining on the show."

With so many years under his belt, Harrison still isn't tired of making the show. He said he would go on making it "as long as it's fun and still a blast." 

He added:

"One of the greatest things about my show is that it continues to be interesting. It continues to surprise me. We can come across an 1890s personal printing press one day or a Viking bracelet on another day. I've dealt with coins that are 3,000 years old and then lunch boxes from the '70s. It continues to be fun for me and it's still a highly rated show on television. Maybe 20 years from now I might be too old to continue doing it but right now it brings everything that I love together. The chance to highlight these historical artifacts keeps me going."

Harrison also mentioned that most of the clients that come into the store and agree to be on the show are not there to pawn. He explained:

"The people pawning goods never want to be on the show, And the reason behind that is because when people are pawning something, they're getting a loan and have to admit they're broke. ... When people are selling something, it's a financial transaction and it's just perceived differently."

As of 2019, Harrison was the owner of 29 cars and motorcycles. The man enjoys collecting antique muscle cars, as well as luxury vehicles. Harrison even has a pricey Porsche Panamera, which he drives around in style. However, the vehicle that he drives five months out of the year at his reclusive mountain home in Oregon is much more modest. 

Harrison's love for cars began in his youth when he saved up $300 to buy a 1968 Oldsmobile Delta 88 that did not have a back seat. "I had it for a year and then I got another car. Me and my buddies—this was when Vegas was still a really small town—10 miles out of town there was this one street where the railroad tracks were bumped up really high. So we kept on jumping it off that. Like on the eighth jump we got 2 or 3 feet of air in it, it didn't run no more," Harrison said with a laugh.

Another car close to his heart is his late father's favorite vehicle. Harrison shared, "When my dad passed, I got his 1966 Imperial Crown Convertible. They only made 600 of them. It cost I think $200 or $300 more than Rolls-Royce at the time. It's a 20-foot-long convertible. It's completely cherry. It was my dad's pride and joy."

The business owner added:

"But then I also tell people this all the time—they don't make cars like they used to, and there's a reason. It's a 1966 6,000-pound car, it drives like a boat. They're almost downright dangerous, but it looks cool."

Also amongst his collection is a beloved classic Chevy. "My favorite car I have at home is my 1940 Chevrolet Special Deluxe, chopped four-and-a-half inches, it's got an LS1 in it, a strange rear end, it's all air-bagged. It's the car you wanted when you were a kid that was just fat and low," the "Pawn Star" said.

Harrison has been steadily working on his Chevy for over 12 years. "It's a perpetual work in progress. I love the car. It's completely custom, but when you start taking a 1940 car and you put an LS1 in it and everything else like that, nothing ever fits right together … and a lot of time you end up on the side of the road," he said.

Harrison has loved off-roading his whole life. That's why he got his 2018 Ford F-150 Raptor, which he refers to as "a real off-road truck." It is also perfect for driving on snowy and icy roads or hauling heavy loads.

The reality TV star said he bought the Raptor because he lives off the grid for five months a year in the mountains of Oregon. Because he spends the majority of his time in the mountains, Harrison's Ford Raptor is his most used vehicle. 

Harrison and his family are usually there in the winter when they have the most storms in the Pacific Northwest, so he keeps a chain saw in the bed of the truck. This way, he's prepared in case a tree has fallen in the road. He added, "Most people get an all-wheel-drive car and think they have four-wheel drive, but they don't. I'm absolutely in love with it, I really am. It is an absolutely great truck."

What do you think of the vehicle Harrison chooses to drive most often? Can you relate to his love of cars? Let us know your thoughts, and don't forget to pass this along to your friends and family.