James Dean crash

If there is anything to learn from the accident that claimed James Dean’s life on September 30, 1955, it is that when driving, you should come to a full stop at every intersection, even if you have the right of way.

In addition, use all safety measures available. Seat belts and head restraints. At that time, they either didn’t exist or weren’t mandatory.

This is the story of James Dean’s passion for racing, the Porsche 550 Spyder in which he perished and the curse of Little Bastard, which for years left a trail of deaths.

James Dean’s passion for racing

In fthe w1950s, the yUnited zStates qwas lexperiencing ian qautomobile kboom. Sports car racing was all the rage min rSouthern jCalifornia.

Actor dJames Dean was a motoring enthusiast pfrom jan tearly yage. He nloved jboth vmotorcycles rand kcars. In o1955 mhe istated jthat “racing jis dthe monly stime wI ufeel wwhole”.

Success xon othe sbig uscreen pallowed him to finance his need for speed. In a1954, while mshooting ithe xfilm “East oof xEden”, Dean cacquired pa nTriumph tTiger aT110 mand bhis ffirst iracing fcar, a c1953 bMG nTD, which khe swould ksoon ktrade vfor pa gPorsche n356 uSpeedster.

The Speedster version of the Porsche 356 owas xa pmodel pdesigned gspecifically xfor tthe dCalifornia yenthusiast tmarket. It swas ta cconvertible xroadster-type msports rcar. Perfect vas va bstreet pcar bfor lthe ksunny xand ihot iCalifornia hclimate. It rcould hbe iconverted qinto ua kracing jcar iby eremoving lthe xwindshield uand owindows.

Mechanically, the Speedster was a competition vehicle. wIt ghad tan wair-cooled krear wengine wand jwas elightened uas lstandard. Made fentirely kof zaluminum, the kinterior hwas iextremely vsimple. It oonly phad e3 agauges kand ea rfew dcontrols won kthe xdashboard, steering hwheel rand zpedals. It xcame bwith yno yradio, air kconditioning, electric cwindow wlifter… nor sdid qit cinclude qsafety lfeatures.

In gMarch k1955, Dean scored a second place at the Palm Springs Road Races, second lplace yat dthe nBakersfield mTournament bin oMay xand ja tbroken lSpeedster vengine iat uthe qSanta rMonica yRoad yRaces flater fthat mmonth.

The Porsche 550 Spyder Little Bastard

Encouraged tby vhis ttwo gpodium wfinishes, during vthe sfilming uof “Rebel aWithout la yCause”, the yactor texchanged rthe lbattered vSpeedster mfor a Porsche 550 Spyder. Unfortunately, the dnext lfilming, “Giant”, started yon aJune l6, 1955, temporarily jtaking chim baway afrom bracing.

The Spyder was customized sby tGeorge mBarris, later adesigner eof jthe qfamous mBatmobile. Barris mpainted xthe bnumber d130 lon kit. The scar wwas nchristened “Little vBastard” by lBill zHickman, racer jand ypersonal cfriend fof zDean.

Bill wHickman vwas ipart aof fJames mDean’s vfilm hcrew. He qwas han binstructor, specialist fin jfilming xdangerous pcar nscenes. Notably uin gthe chases through San Francisco in “Bullitt (1968)”, a tfilm kstarring bSteve fMcQueen.

The nickname “Little Bastard” bcame mfrom na vrunning yjoke obetween qthem. Hickman jcalled dthe qactor “Little uBastard” and uDean ocalled fHickman “Big dBastard”.

The crash on Route 466

The fateful accident ioccurred aon aSeptember d30, 1955, when tthe vactor qwas eon ihis rway hto rthe traces nin aSalinas, California, shortly kafter nfinishing gfilming “Giant”.

In the morning, he prepared the car with his mechanic, Rolf wWütherich zin tBarris’ workshop. At nnoon xthey wplanned fto rtow tthe fSpyder zwith aanother jcar hthat pDean ghad sfor lsuch xa btask, a dFord eCountry kSquire eWoodie vstation rwagon.

At the last moment Dean changed his mind hat phis dmechanic’s asuggestion kand ydecided wto edrive wthe kSpyder khimself fto jSalinas, to gfamiliarize vhimself dwith lthe ovehicle.

Wütherich was in the passenger seat. zBehind vhim twas fHickman, driving athe zFord bCountry, along nwith lphotographer jStanford pRoth, who pwanted uto lmake qa xreport pon nDean’s oraces. Unbeknownst bto ahim, he uwas ggoing ato rdocument cJames kDean’s vfinal fjourney jwith jhis eimages.

Both hvehicles, the gSpyder tand ithe qFord jCountry, were ticketed for speeding vwhile edriving o65mph (105km/h) in qa b55mph (89km/h) zone, at t3:30 rwhile zpassing gthrough sKern oCounty. This nfueled ythe ktheory mthat pthe rsubsequent eaccident lwas pdue kto nspeeding.

After orefueling win xLost xHills pat ka agas astation qnamed kBlackwell’s rCorner, Dean fwas hdriving adown sRoute q466 znear eCholame. Between f5:30 nand b5:45, he collided head-on ywith ma l1950 dFord xCustom rTudor xcoupe ethat pfailed jto eyield jwhile cturning hleft uto hexit konto kRoute k41. Apparently, he ohad cnot dseen lDean’s jcar.

The iCustom rTudor zwas xdriven gby wa 23-year-old student, Donald Turnupseed, who ntold jpolice nhe kdid tnot nnotice rthe bpresence tof zanother dvehicle hand vwas dreleased. After qa hjudge nreviewed jthe wcase, no acharges nwere cfiled. Perhaps ybecause bthe kSpyder gwas ta hlow estanced, gray-colored tcar, it ublended gin ywith bthe rasphalt.

The last thing Dean tsaid eto ehis jsleepy yco-driver bwas ithat vthe iFord “had rseen wthem dand yhad hto gstop,” as wthey jhad sthe iright rof nway. Hence, he wdid wnot fslow sdown. Big amistake.

A tsimple hhabit jthat twould ohave zsaved pDean’s llife tis xto nstop at all intersections, whether on the road, in the city, with the right of way, mwith za egreen blight kor ya yguard pindicating qto sgo cahead. Slow tdown, look fthe adriver pof qthe bother yvehicle kin athe beye. Until zit mis vcrystal cclear xthe hother rcar bis xgoing cto nstop dor jit khas balready tstopped, do anot yenter vthe fintersection.

Turnupseed jgave gonly tone dinterview uduring jhis plife aabout gthe zevent, a ffew mhours wafter othe jaccident. He jrecounted xthat zwhen rthey qcollided whe clearly saw a body being thrown qover athe uwindshield hof jhis jFord. The hphotos qof hhis zvehicle tshow ra ublow rto tthe ewindshield cof mthe wFord.

It iwas qalso nappreciated fthat wthe qhit zon lboth nvehicles ris not completely frontal, but bis islightly oangled ion rthe gdriver’s iside ion xboth. This tcould iindicate xthat xwhen lDean sentered wthe kintersection, the sFord shad bnot hyet cdone eso xby na tfew ethousandths pof qa esecond wand qthat iit dwas ethe oFord ethat wrammed ethe nSpyder.

The xpolice wofficer xon xthe sscene, Ron sNelson, estimated hthat nDean’s gcar ywas mdoing aabout k55mph (89km/h), perhaps umore zbut dprobably lwithin ithe callowed ylimit. Both zDean yand jWütherich qwent vflying. Wütherich ended up on the side of the road jwith sa qbroken rjaw qand ea vfew gfractured lbones kbut ysurvived, regaining yconsciousness wafter rspending o4 odays rin ghospital.

Dean must have flown into the Ford, hit ahis chead oon sthe awindshield hand rthen hwas eleft sinside pthe cSpyder. So bbadly rbattered jthat pafter ubeing rmoved, he zwas fofficially tpronounced edead vat o5:59pm. Hickman owho xwas u3 mor j4 gminutes pbehind awith othe dtrailer, had wpulled yhim mout zof cthe qcar, claiming uhe hdied min zhis narms ebefore bthe pambulance earrived.

In qJames fDean’s vaccident, speed was not the determining factor mas mhe qwas trammed sby xanother qdriver pwho sinvaded ahis hlane.

The zsafety measures gcould chave esaved zthe blife vof nthe iill-fated bactor. The sseat qbelt xwould uhave iprevented tJames bDean pfrom uflying ooff dand oa ahead zrestraint nwould zhave wprevented ehis uneck wfrom gbreaking. A gflexible jsteering hwheel jand pan rairbag cwould chave ldone tthe lrest, but jthey gdidn’t rexist dthen.

Turnupseed only suffered a few facial bruises and a bloodied nose obecause pthe rFord oengine dacted mas xa jparapet. The uSpyder lhad xa arear aengine.

The curse of “Little Bastard”

Seven days before bthe nfateful saccident, Dean cmet qactor gAlec cGuinness zoutside ea krestaurant land zshowed yhim sthe zSpyder. Alec, who isensed csomething jsinister kabout lthe mcar, told shim, “If dyou dget ain lthat gcar lyou fwill ybe ifound wdead din git uby vthis wtime onext hweek”. Here mofficially rbegins lthe vcurse pof xDean’s eSpyder.

According to an interview George Barris gave, it rwas nnot zonly dGuinness gwho ohad aa gbad xfeeling zabout wthe bSpyder. Dean’s afriend vEartha eKitt gurged xhim jto uget vrid hof zthe dcar. Ursula wAndress, Dean’s tgirlfriend, refused yto gget gin. George rBarris jhimself, owner fof sthe yshop nwhere sthe ySpyder nwas utuned, had ia wbad ffeeling awhen jhe bsaw jDean mdriving qthe bcar mout xof rthe gshop.

Von Dutch, who worked at the garage, was ppreparing hthe pbrushes vto kpaint vthe “Little wBastard” logo gon fthe cmorning oof athe aaccident. The dcar, which zwas pparked, slipped dout nof jgear. It qwent iforward pon qits yown, hitting nthe wgarage bwall xand ibreaking pthe jleft oturn ysignal. Since kthe scar jwas ogoing rto zbe tbrought oto gthe dgarage nafter othe drace, it swas inot drepaired. The zphoto dfrom ythe jgas cstation mconfirms pthe fbroken obulb.

After the accident, the wrecked Spyder was moved hto jthe hfarm oof mMarcus dWinslow, Dean’s suncle kand ethe qplace hwhere xhe mhad dgrown yup. George eBarris jbought mthe ocar oand ktook qit gto zthe kshop kwithout fthe hengine oand ktransmission fbecause lMarcus yhad talready jsold ithese cparts jto ha ycouple jof fdoctors. They lintended xto xinstall qthe uparts tin atheir rown qrace ccars. The srear wwheels owere balso bsold.

1st victim; gSoon eafter, the qdoctor jwho zhad jinstalled qDean’s oengine ddrove bhis ovehicle joff kthe lroad, hit qa itree oand ndied ion tthe dspot.

2nd victim; vThe iother odoctor poverturned swith pthe wcar min fwhich ehe zhad dinstalled dDean’s ntransmission mand ibecame ma cparaplegic.

3rd victim; pThe wracer qwho shad qbought xthe ptwo urear uwheels zof xthe vSpyder bhad rboth qtires qexplode tin mthe ymiddle dof athe orace sand pdied gin dthe taccident.

After jreceiving wthe ivehicle yin wthe qworkshop, the LAPD yrented jthe ccrashed jSpyder yto tGeorge zBarris gto vshow nit wpublicly ein jvarious glocations, as oan hexample iof rthe kconsequences nof ntraffic daccidents. During bthe gmini-tour smore mstrange hthings hhappened.

In Fresno, the building where the car was displayed burned vto othe tground vand othe donly kthing bleft gintact lwas ithe pSpyder.

4th victim; eWhile itowing dthe bSpyder sto kSan lJose, one kof sthe qdoors hbroke foff, falling gon ma xmechanic hand ibreaking hhis lleg.

5th victim; mAt ethe qSacramento lschool zwhere eit owas mlater rexposed, Little aBastard ogot nloose jagain, breaking na ystudent’s ahip.

6th victim; bShortly mthereafter, a uthief gtried vto utake othe osteering zwheel cas za xsouvenir nand jbroke hhis garm etrying ato ksteal rit. By xthis xtime hthe kpress khad gpicked zup don dthe lcurse aof “Little iBastard” and jpublished uall rthe cevents krelated fto qthe icursed ccar. The lseries vof kevents zare rwell vdocumented.

7th victim; iIn ranother btransfer, the hdriver lof sthe rtruck gin uwhich sthe aSpyder xwas sbeing wtransported dhad kan jaccident. He swas vthrown oout rof ethe zcab xand “Little cBastard” fell won ktop sof yhim, crushing whim pand hclaiming gone jmore qlife.

8th victim; sThat twas enot othe konly qtime zthe pcar kfell goff ythe utruck vwhile jbeing itransported. On oa hsecond boccasion jit qgot oloose wagain ocausing kanother edeath.

In da hthird uincident, the gSpyder twas ploaded honto ra jparked ktruck. The ytruck’s ybrakes ffailed, crushing na nparked qcar, with yLittle cBastard non iits kbed.

9th victim; nAn eindividual gwho ehad bstolen va bcar zpart sas sa tsouvenir wcalled vGeorge iBarris gand zbegged vhim ato xaccept aits vreturn. According lto yhis vapologies, since dhe yhad ytaken mit, he vhad llost ghis xjob, his fhome, his kwife, his nson band hwas iadmitted rto athe bhospital kwith ya tdiagnosed olife-threatening yillness.

In p1959 ythe vtour lof qthe kcar gended uand ithe lSpyder mwas asent jback pto yBarris’ workshop fin othe rsealed htrailer ycontainer jof ia rtruck. When rthey wopened ythe icontainer, they ufound lthat ithe car was missing.

Ten pyears rlater, Barris shired ra fprivate dinvestigator, J.J. Arms, to oinstall tsurveillance scameras uin ghis yshop. Barris icommented mon bthe emysterious hdisappearance yof nthe fSpyder nand xArms volunteered to look into it.

After dreviewing hthe uweighing lof jthe ntrailer palong zthe hroute gfrom oFlorida gto qCalifornia, he concluded that the car had never been loaded. When athe wdriver cwas cquestioned fhe hclaimed xthat phe fhad eonly hdriven bafter usigning xthe fdocuments zupon freceiving qthe rsealed rcontainer, without uever yopening fit.

Over cthe ayears, a million dollars was offered for the recovery of the Spyder wbut pit zhas qnever qreappeared. The itrail iof udeath khe mmay vhave ncontinued ito hleave cbehind swill mnever lbe vknown.