The Cursed Porsche - James Dean's 550 Spyder

James Bryon Dean was a hollywood legend.
Despite being in just 3 films, he was already cemented as one of Hollywood's finest, thanks to his iconic roles
in Rebel without a cause, East of Eden and Giant.
Second Channel:
‪@blags2‬
Most of Dean's money from his acting roles went into buying high end cars - although acting was his bread and butter, he was truly passionate about motorsport.
Eventually, Dean managed to get himself a beautiful Porsche 550 Spyder.
When it came out in 1953, it was one of the fastest cars around.
Despite its small engine, it was capable of outrunning much bigger cars,
thanks to weighing just 550kg. With a 1.5 litre four cylinder putting out 108hp and 121nm of torque, it had an astonishing 196 hp per tonne, putting it above even the 300sl Gullwing which came out the next year, and the legendary Jaguar xk120. Suffice to say, Porsche had a winning formula on their hands.
There was one downside to the shockingly low weight of the 550 though.
It wasn't really able to withstand crashes very well. They were infamous for crushing like a can of coke under high speed, making them extremely dangerous for the few lucky enough to ever drive them.
The 550 wasn't dean's first rodeo in the Porsche world. In march of 1955, Dean traded in his 53 MG TD for a brand spanking new Speedster,
which he drove hard. He competed in a number of races to great success, and it was at this point that he was under the spell of racing.
On September the 21st of the same year, just around when he was finishing up filming on Giant, he traded in the Speedster for the legendary 550 Spyder, which he got from the same showroom. Presumably his ever growing love of racing paired with a nice pay check made it a
necessary purchase for the 24 year old.
Legend has it that James himself had earned the nickname "little bastard", after a stunt driver who he was friends with gave it to him.
Bill Hickman, who gave him the nickname, was called "big bastard" in return by Dean.
Dean then decided to get some minor aesthetic modifications done on his 550, to make it race ready. Along with number 130 across the car, he also had his nickname painted on the car, which transferred the nickname over to the 550 too.
Shortly after getting the 550, he also bought a 1955 Ford country squire, which he planned on using for transporting his 550 to race events.
Just 9 days later, Dean's luck would run out. Dean and his mechanic, Rolf Wutherich were at competition motors, doing some final race prep for an imminent race that weekend over at Salinas.
Now although Dean had bought his Ford with the intention of using it as a way to tow his 550 to and from race events, he had a problem.
The 550 hadn't clocked up enough miles to have been broken in yet.
Therefore, Dean's mechanic decided that driving the 550 rather than towing it could be a good way to bring up the miles to let him race.
So, Dean did just that.
Dean began a near 300 mile journey to the event, departing from
Hollywood at around 2pm after stopping to fill up. Rolf Wutherich, his mechanic, was in the passenger seat. The plan was to go north up the golden state highway, and then further north to eventually get to the race.
About an hour and a half after leaving,
Dean was pulled over by a policeman a bit south of Bakersfield,
because he had been caught driving 65 in a 55. It wasn't just Dean who got in a bit of trouble though. Hickman, Dean's friend and Hollywood Stunt driver and Sanford H Roth, a photographer, got caught going 20 over in Deans Ford Estate and were handed a ticket. Since Hickman had a trailer attached, he should have been going 45, and subsequently got a ticket.
After this minor kerfuffle, the gang went west in an effort to avoid the 25 limit through the middle of Bakersfield. The road they joined onto was the SR166/SR33. This road was a known road used by racers to get from southern California up to Salinas faster, and had a nickname.
The Racer's Road. This bit's actually not entirely clear, by the way.
A researcher and Biographer by the name of Warren Beath,
instead thinks they had actually gone through Bakersfield and joined the US 466 from there instead. Regardless, the trip was plain sailing until quarter to six that evening.
A black and white Ford Tudor, headed east down the 466, began turning left to head north towards Fresno. As the Ford was turning left, it crossed over the middle of the road, directly in front of Dean, who was barrelling towards them at 85 miles and hour. As a keen, experienced Racing Driver, James knew that what was immediately ahead of him spelled
disaster. In a quickfire attempt to avoid a head on crash, he tried steer out of the way. Unfortunately, Dean ran out of tarmac and time.
The Ford and the 550 mashed each other to pieces on impact.
The Porsche cartwheeled a few times, landing by the edge of the road.
The sheer speed of the collision moved the Ford into the opposite lane.

[@Bioniking]

Driving back from a work trip I inadvertently stumbled upon the intersection of the crash. There’s a little sign commemorating the intersection, blink and you miss it. The intersection has been realigned but still feels unsafe

[@leejee88]

yep that particular road is very narrow too I went through there December of 2019 late at night thought about stopping to take a pic .my gut was telling me not to do it very eerie feeling driving through that area no street lights at all on the road

[@blagssss]

Thank you for watching. There's a lot of uncertainty around exactly what happened to James Dean's Porsche, so here's a summary of what (most likely) happened. -Dr William Eschrich bought the wreckage from Dean's insurance company. -He then scrapped the car for parts, taking out some drivetrain / suspension components as well as the intact engine. -The Rest of the car was (supposedly) sold to George Barris. -He sold two of the tyres, and someone stole a tiny piece of aluminium from it whilst in storage. -Barris lost the parts he owned. -The Piece of scrap is in a museum in Illinois. -The Engine is owned by Eschrich's family. -The transaxle is owned by Zak Bagans. Please leave a comment if you have learned anything about where unaccounted for parts might be / are. Dean's Speedster (which he had before the 550) also hasn't been found. It's likely to be in a private collection somewhere IMO.

[@LazeVanCat]

Hey @blagssss. i have a video idea for you. the 24 Hours of Le Mans disaster of 1955 which is considered to be one of the most fatal motorsport accidents in history. the race continued even after the disaster and is still ongoing today. involes 3 drivers and a similar crash to the rs6 audi crash in terms of the layout of the crash where Pierre Levegh's car ramped of another racers car flying into the spectators both killing more than 80 people and injuring well over 100 more. this topic is well known but there isnt many videos on youtube about it. its a really intresting topic tho, i recommend you make a video about it.

[@herschelmayo2727]

The museum is in Rosco Illinois.

[@ag4allgood]

Its an interesting story because of the rising star James Dean being killed in his prime. That Porsche 550 weighing 1212 pounds is almost HALF the weight of my 2016 Mazda MX-5 soft top roadster. With that 1.5 Liter 108 HP 4 cylinder engine that Porsche was a real go kart even compared to my Miata.

[@arricammarques1955]

550 Spyder = The Widow Maker.

[@ag4allgood]

@@arricammarques1955 Except James Dean was single when the 550 killed him.

[@Antonio-j1g]

Seems a hell of intersection

[@laddersman]

nothing wrong with intersection its idiot drivers . careless drivers .

[@stevefowler2112]

Porsche N.A. had refused multiple requests by Dean to purchase a 550 Spyder, with Porsche saying he did not have the experience to operate one safely. It wasn't until one of their chief mechanics said he would drive with Dean anytime he drove it that Porsche relented and sold him one. Obviously turns out Porsche N.A. had been correct in their initial assessment.

[@PointNemo9]

How? Dean was not at fault for the accident, it had nothing to do with his driving experience.

[@pierheadjump]

@@PointNemo9 Hmmmm …. Maybe not, 85 mph on county highway is not faultless. ⚓️

[@PointNemo9]

@@pierheadjump He was simply driving in a straight-line and another car made a left-turn in front of him. He wasn't even going 85Mph before the accident, he was doing 55-60Mpg. But even if he was doing 85, there is no way he is at fault for a car making a left-turm in front of oncoming traffic.

[@pierheadjump]

@@PointNemo9 ⚓️ at those speeds on a country road … that little low profile car … was nearly invisible…. Hubris was James Dean … 🌈

[@PointNemo9]

@@pierheadjump Complete rubbish

[@timothyperry-mills4207]

Great video, James Deane was iconic

[@robertmartinez4174]

Do Curse's exist? The Bible says they do. Crist cursed a fig tree for not having good figs.

[@iwillfightyousir6479]

Brilliant video! Keep up the good work!

[@timsparks1858]

The accident was not portrayed accurately in this movie. The Ford actually came over from a side highway. Donald Turnuspeed was at fault.

[@aquila1723]

Awesome video!

[@chrisskinner6291]

The system can make a 🥒 appear important he was still just another human .This car and its numbers tells u there is much more to this story here.Then the numbers of hwy wow.

[@iwillfightyousir6479]

I really enjoy these videos, you are very good at presenting these subjects in an informative, concise and entertaining manner. Also you cover many topics that almost no other automotive youtubers have covered in such a high quality manner. I will deffinatly be subbing to the second channel aswell!

[@linkkid3607]

This is how I learn about Zak Bagans’ collection?

[@mcjibbo6100]

This car is Christine in the real world.

[@davijazzz]

I just watched the 1996 film Crash, in which this accident is "reproduced" and I was curious to know if this really happened

[@iwillfightyousir6479]

For the algorithm!

[@matthewwiddows6319]

looking at the porsche, the damage isnt that bad considering the lightweight nature of the car and the speed. it just grazed the other car, and didnt end up far away. im guessing no seat belts was main cause of injury. cockpit\cabin not to deformed, steering wheel still straight and present.....

[@chrisbaker121924]

Tbh I see the car on display as being a different car. Doesn’t look at all like James Deans car. Doesn’t appear to even have doors… I think he was trying to make an interesting display and nothing else and it was a complete mock up… people realised that and he decided to bin it off. I recon the racing family bought the car and it was essentially broken for useful spares. The fact that it crashed many times seems like a spooky coincidence but in truth crashes were super common.

[@petergilchrist2805]

have seen it know where it is

[@jamesdean5206]

"Byron"

[@jrnumex9286]

5;29 turnipseed black shirt? years of questions and turnip knew the answers but clamed up. scared for him, family or guilt

[@herschelmayo2727]

Somebody heard a car cursing in Barras' garage. He walked in, and it was coming from the car. He said "Is that you cursing?" The car said.,"**** yes it's me. Here I come all the way here to race, and this ****** jerk turns me into a pile of ******* junk! By the way, don't bother to tell anybody I talk. You're the only one I'll talk to. So ******* scram."

[@adamholub3916]

and all porsche accidents

[@michaelcroos4713]

Very recent forensic research concludes that Dean was only going the speed limit, 55mph, at the time of impact.

[@999mrbungle]

Also, for the algorithm!

[@leeraskin]

Thanks for mentioning my name, Lee Raskin / Porsche / James Dean biographer / author. However you needed to gain permission to use a photo of JD’s Porsche Speedster #23F at Palm Springs in March 1955 …that I have copyright.( 00.20 sec)

[@jonasmwatange6948]

Walked away with hip and femur injuries, right...

[@adamholub3916]

waiting for poul walker accident

[@rossfindlay2664]

James Byron Dean. Not Brian.

[@psk5746]

Wasn't cursed. Driver made a judgement error

[@arricammarques1955]

Tried to steer around the Ford. But, didn't make it.

[@mark-e7d1s]

Sorry folks, But James Dean's car was a Death Trap! All aluminum body light. I would have never bought that cursed car in the first place. Did Dean have a death wish? In 1955. Much worse than the 1966 Batmobile which is all steel. And, weighs in at 6,500 LBS. Mark

[@tomsear1]

Turnupseed

[@wt1370]

108 hp? Even at 1210 lbs doesn’t sound very quick/ fast on four wheels.

[@PistonAvatarGuy]

The skinny tires, suspension and brakes of the era likely led to the car being much less safe than we would be used to a car being these days.

[@funkmixer7767]

Topseed of 140 Miles per Hour is crazy fast in the 50s

[@JinZuS]

Do you think this happened in 2024 ? idiotta XD

[@chjsiu39]

I honestly find this story complete bogus. I seen a lot of people making this story, but it doesn't seem real. Life isn't a Percy Jackson book.

[@vuciferl]

speaking of percy jackson his birthday is soon isnt it lol

[@robertdouche1432]

No mention of a turn signal. If Turnupseed did not turn on his turn signal he caused the accident. Did anyone see a turn signal on?

[@docloop6240]

1212 lbs for the non gay, non metric using people.

[@smartprocesssolutions748]

The non gay is totally gay! What sounds better? A) Pound salt up your ass! B) Kilo salt up your ass! Survey says…. A!

[@netherrack58]

Lmao cry about it sour yankee

[@sickbozzer]

What?

[@StrikeWyvern]

Based

[@hauntified9060]

americans when they learn nursery rhymes just to remember the dumbass conversions for their shitty system

[@bobgotracks5680]

For the algorithm!