For those that are "James Dean" fans & the mysteriously cursed 550 Spyder

I'd love to know what happened to that car? I mean, how does a car in a transporter just disappear?? Bazaar.
 
kirban 2 cents worth

I have always been fascinated with Deans Porsche and its bad luck and disappearance.

Years ago when I took my western trip in my Vette after visiting Kenny Duttweiler and drove to that fateful intersection...also been to deans home town in Indiana..

Think he only did 3 movies yet became a star...

One would think where ever the car is it should surface eventually as whoever has it has to be getting pretty old by now so when it does surface it may be almost as newsworthy as when the located the Titanic...

Magazines always talk about barn finds...

That would be the ultimate barn find in our lifetime....only down side is all the bad luck associated with that car.

Just my 2 cents worth....

denniskirban@yahoo.com
 
Rumor has it that much of the car was parted out and scrapped. The trans went in a car that someone else was killed in. I've driven that stretch of highway many times, on my way to another very famous person's house that I work for from time to time. ;)
GN trip to Clint's house 012.JPG
GN trip to Clint's house 016.JPG


Here's the road.
 
The top pic is of the intersection as it is now. The bottom shot is of Dean's last stop off before the fateful journey (Blackwell's). The two are about 20 minutes apart.

And yes. Gas prices are that stupid here in California.
 
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GN trip to Clint's house 008.JPG
On the Cali gas price thing. Here's what's really crazy. Here's another pic I took on the same highway (46), between the two places in the pics. :confused:

THEY PUMP IT FROM HERE!:mad:
 
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Virtually the complete drive train, less wheels, of course are alive & well, in another and or other cars and is well documented. Barris bought the wrecked 550 and the wheels were sold to 2 doctors, each getting two wheels. The 1st Doc was killed in a race at Santa when his Porsche went out of control & struck a tree. The 2nd doc was killed ia few years later in his Porsche.
It is a possibility that the balance of the car was not lost in a transport but accidentally scrapped by the Safety council as they were showing it with the statement "Do not drink & drive" .
 
I read an article a few years ago that claimed the remains of the spyder are hidden away in a bricked in room somewhere in the northwest .
 
Saw this in Gatlinburg Tn in 2016 when we vacationed there
 

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Some Porsche experts claim the car displayed by George Barris was not James' car. It was another smashed 550 with james' rear clam shell on it. The original shell sent off to be recycled. Their theory is later Barris turned in an insurance claim on his lost car and most of the curse stories to be false.
 
It is also claimed that the real James Dean Porsche 550 Spyder did not have Barris' name or advertising junk on it. Also claimed that Barris never even seen the car after Dean Jeffries painted it.
 
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