At some point, before Nirvana became huge stars, Kurt Cobain drew a mural on a tour van used by a friend’s band. Next month, the panel he decorated will probably sell for $40,000 in New York. 

The band was the Melvins, still going under the firm leadership of King Buzzo.

They were Pacific Northwest punk/hardcore/sludge veterans who were a key influence on the grunge sound of Seattle that Nirvana made a global phenomenon.  

Not his greatest work, artistically speaking, perhaps, but there's an undoubted personal connection to Kurt Cobain in this drawing. Image courtesy of Julien's Auctions. 

Some of the band hailed from Aberdeen, Cobain’s home town, and in his (somewhat lonely and alienated)  youth he hung out with them. 

Julien’s Auctions, who are selling the pieces, recount the tale from Come As You Are, a Nirvana biography by Michael Azerrad. 

“In the book, Marander [Tracy Marander, Kurt’s first serious girlfriend] recalled her first meeting Kurt, and on a second occasion, a year later, when they were hanging out with their mutual friend, Buzz Osbourne, lead singer and guitarist of the Melvins at his parents' house: "watching Buzz and Chris drinking Mad Dog. After Kurt left, Buzz informed her that Kurt was the guy who made the really cool Kiss mural on the side of the Melvins' tour van - known as the Mel-Van - using Magic Markers. Every time a pen ran out, he'd go in to the Shop Rite in Montesano and steal another one. I thought that was kind of cool," says Tracy.”

The hard-working van is looking its age, but it will surley now be preserved, at least in part, for posterity. Image courtesy of Julien's Auctions. 

While picking up car parts at auction usually means you’re bargain hunting, the pieces of this van are now much sough-after artefacts of the ultimate rock icon. 

So, a panel of a Dodge Sportsman from 1972 will be auctioned at New York’s Hard Rock Cafe on May 30 to 31st with an expected sale price of between $20,000 and $40,000. 

The Mel-Van (aka The Beast and the Mean Machine) is no classic car, though it might make a few thousand dollars on eBay. 

It’s the touch of Cobain that counts. 

After an emotional exhibition stop in Seattle, where Nirvana took off, the mural panel has been removed from the van for sale. 

The steering wheel - which Cobain probably handled -  has an estimate of $2,000 to $4,000. 

Other parts carry $2,000 top estimates. They cannot be so directly linked to the tragic Nirvana singer. 

Cobain is remembered on a sign in his home town, which was also formative to the Melvin's story. 

Cobain is probably now - just over 30 years after his gunshot suicide - the most valuable single figure in rock collecting.

His guitars are the apogee of the hobby, with the Martin acoustic that he played in the totemic Unplugged TV show going for $6 million in 2020. A record. 

The van parts are less obviously collectible, but the appeal of a figure like Kurt is counter-cultural, so it’s perfectly possible they will exceed that estimate and give the late star another collecting record: the most valuable piece of car artwork.