What Happened To The Belly Tank Car From American Pickers?

Over the years, Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz — the hosts of "American Pickers" — came across everything from a 1922 Ace Sporting Solo motorcycle to Aerosmith's first touring van. The History Channel renewed it for three more seasons in May 2024. Sadly, Frank passed away in September at the age of 60 due to a stroke. 

During the fifth season (2012, episode six, "What Happens in Sturgis...") the gang went to South Dakota. Frank hit up the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally to keep his three-decades-long attendance streak alive while Mike took Danielle to go pickin'. Their final stop was the Pioneer Auto Show in Murdo, which has been operating for 70 years. The 42-building attraction has been in the Geisler family since opening in 1954 and, at the time, was run by Dave Geisler.

While rummaging around the massive collection, Mike and Danielle found a white, cigar-shaped belly tank car reportedly used in the Mickey Rooney film, "The Big Wheel." After some haggling, which ended with Dave flipping a coin for the final price, Mike bought it for $13,000. 

Soon after, the vehicle was sent to Dale and Matt Walksler at the 38,000 square foot Wheels Through Time Museum in Maggie Valley, North Carolina, to get it operational and was fired up for the first time on the final episode of season five ("The Belly Dance"). Dale was so smitten that he bought it from Mike and Frank for $25,000, and it still sits at their museum in North Carolina.

A 1940 last-generation Indian 4-cylinder engine powered this particular cycle car. It's also known as a belly tank car because it was made out of a fuel drop tank that once sat under the belly of a Lockheed P-38 Lightning (a plane that looked bizarre but had an astounding WWII record). Commissioned by Rob Rosella, it was built at Custom City in Hollywood, California, a premiere custom hot rod shop in the 1950s and 60s.

Although it was built in Hollywood, and did appear in the July 1954 issue of Hot Rod Magazine, there is some debate as to whether it was actually used in the Mickey Rooney film "The Big Wheel" as the Geisler family believed. There is some speculation, however, that it may have appeared in another film with Rooney though, thus all the confusion.

The steering assembly was built using a combination of Fiat steering components while the rear axel assembly and leaf spring suspension was taken off the Indian 3-wheeler (called a dispatch tow). It had an all-tube chassis and aluminum gas tank up front. At around 80 cubic inches, the engine (mated to a 3-speed transmission) provided substantial torque and moved the sleek, cylindrical vehicle to nearly 100 mph.

Unfortunately, life takes what it wants. Dale Walksler, the founder of the Wheels Through Time Museum, passed away in February 2021 after a four-year battle with cancer. And although the belly tank car still sits in the museum, it's not for the lack of Mother Nature trying to take that away. Hurricane Helene ripped through the Maggie Valley at the end of September 2024, and although it spared the museum, the infrastructure in the area was devastated.