TLDR: American Pickers and American Restoration both premiered on History Channel in 2010 and were designed to work together as part of the same vintage and antique universe.
By 2026 the original cast of both shows has scattered. Frank Fritz died on September 30, 2024. Rick’s Restorations in Las Vegas closed. Mike Wolfe launched a new solo History Channel series.
Danielle Colby opened a burlesque history museum in Iowa. Kelly Dale moved into Las Vegas real estate.
Brettly Otterman turned a struggling sandblasting business into a three-rig operation. Rick Dale is making laser-cut metal art.
American Pickers and American Restoration were built to connect. Pickers found things rotting in barns. Restoration fixed them.
The supply chain was the premise, and for six seasons it worked well enough that History Channel built an entire programming block around it.
By 2026, Frank Fritz is dead, Rick’s Restorations is a shuttered building on West Mesquite Avenue in Las Vegas, and the Las Vegas reality TV bus tours that once stopped at both Rick’s shop and the Acrylic Tank Manufacturing warehouse from Tanked no longer run.
The golden era of the History Channel’s picking and restoration block ended not with a formal conclusion but with a series of departures, cancellations, and personal losses spread across several years.
Here is where everyone ended up.
The Two Shows Were Designed as a Supply Chain
The relationship between the two shows was formalized in July 2011 with a two-hour crossover special called “The Pick, The Pawn and The Polish.” Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz were tasked by Rick Harrison of Pawn Stars to find a specific 1957 Chevrolet for his father’s 70th birthday.
They found a dilapidated version in Arizona and brought it to Rick Dale’s shop in Las Vegas. The episode demonstrated the entire supply chain in one narrative: Pickers find, Restorers fix, Pawn Stars sell.
Both shows drew the same audience — people interested in mechanical history, vintage Americana, and the specific satisfaction of watching something broken become whole again.
The shared demographic was not accidental. History Channel built the programming block to keep that audience in their seats for an entire evening.
Mike Wolfe Closed the Nashville Store and Launched a New Show
Mike Wolfe created American Pickers, spent five years trying to get it made, and watched it become the highest-rated debut for History Channel since 2007 when it premiered in January 2010. He has been the constant through every cast change that followed.
In April 2025, he closed the Nashville location of Antique Archaeology, which had operated for nearly 15 years in the Marathon Motor Works complex. The original Le Claire, Iowa location remains open.
In September 2025, he and his partner Leticia Cline were in a serious car accident in Columbia, Tennessee. Cline was airlifted with life-threatening injuries including a broken jaw in three places, broken ribs, a broken sternum, a collapsed lung, and spinal swelling. As of mid-2026 her recovery is ongoing.
In February 2026, Wolfe launched History’s Greatest Picks with Mike Wolfe, a studio-based series narrating the stories behind legendary artifacts. The premiere drew 875,000 viewers, making it one of the top three shows on the network. The full story of where Mike Wolfe stands in 2026 is here.
Frank Fritz Died on September 30, 2024
Frank Fritz left the show in 2020, suffered a stroke in July 2022, reconciled with Wolfe during his recovery, and died on September 30, 2024, at age 60. Wolfe was at his bedside.
They had spent two years not speaking before the stroke brought them back together. The tribute to Frank Fritz and his collection is here.
Danielle Colby Opened a Burlesque History Museum in Iowa
Danielle Colby ran the office at Antique Archaeology and evolved into a full-time on-camera picker across the show’s run. In June 2025 she opened the Ecdysiast Arts Museum in Davenport, Iowa, dedicated to the history of burlesque and nude arts, featuring rare vintage costuming and artifacts from her own performance career.
In December 2025 she posted on Instagram that American Pickers was “done” after 27 seasons, citing financial uncertainty as she transitioned to a fully independent career. History Channel clarified the show was on hiatus rather than cancelled.
Wolfe called her immediately. She later said her comments were from a paycheck standpoint and that Wolfe reminded her the show is never over. In 2026 she is focused on the museum.
Rick Dale Made Six Seasons of Great Television and Then History Channel Cancelled His Entire Family
American Restoration centered on Rick’s Restorations in Las Vegas, where Rick Dale and his crew transformed rusted scrap into museum-quality relics.
The show ran for six strong seasons before History Channel rebooted it entirely in Season 7, replacing Dale and his family-based crew with five different restoration shops across the country in a chase for ratings through manufactured drama.
Dale had reportedly resisted the network’s push for more conflict. The reboot failed. The show was cancelled shortly after.
Rick’s Restorations at 800 West Mesquite Avenue in Las Vegas eventually closed to the public. By 2026, Dale has largely stepped back from large-scale restorations.
He and Kelly Dale now run a venture called My Best Font Forward LLC, specializing in laser-cut metal art and embroidery — a smaller, more personal creative operation that doesn’t require the overhead of a massive fabrication facility.
Kelly Dale Moved Into Las Vegas Real Estate
Kelly Dale managed the business operations of Rick’s Restorations and was the logistical backbone of the show across six seasons. After the show ended she moved into the Las Vegas real estate market while maintaining a social media presence for the show’s fan base and occasionally appearing at car shows in the area.
Brettly Otterman Built a Three-Rig Sandblasting Business
Brettly Otterman spent his time on American Restoration largely in the sandblasting booth, assigned the least glamorous work in the shop. After the show ended he purchased a struggling mobile sandblasting business and transformed it into Clean Works Mobile Media Blasting, which now operates three rigs across the Las Vegas valley.
Tyler Dale, Rick’s son, remained in Las Vegas working on high-end muscle car and sports car projects and married interior designer Hailee in 2022.
The Rest of the Rick’s Restorations Crew
The supporting crew who made the fabrication work possible have largely dispersed. Kowboy, the metal polishing specialist, retired completely and maintains no social media presence. Ron Dale builds custom bicycles and has expressed nostalgia for the television era.
Kyle Astorga shifted careers entirely and now works as a hunter and outfitter in New Mexico. Ted Hague continues to operate his hand-lettering and signage firm, Letter Perfect Incorporated, in Las Vegas.
What Both Shows Left Behind
The vintage signs, petroliana, and mechanical Americana that both shows focused on maintain historically high market values in 2026, a direct consequence of fifteen years of weekly television telling millions of viewers what those objects are worth.
The shows created the market they documented.
Both shows continue to air in reruns on secondary networks including Story TV, pulling the same audience that watched them originally into a comfort-viewing loop.
The fan communities have moved from network message boards to social media groups and YouTube channels dedicated to independent restoration projects.
The Las Vegas reality TV bus tours that once stopped at Rick’s Restorations and the Acrylic Tank Manufacturing warehouse no longer run. The buildings are still there. The people who made them matter have moved on to smaller, quieter work.
The objects they saved are still out there, in collections and barns and antique shops, worth considerably more than they were before the cameras arrived.
