The 550 Porsche Spyder’s transaxle is on show at the new James Dean exhibit, which debuted on Thursday, February 10, 2022, at Zak Bagans’ The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas.
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Has the Long-Missing Porsche Spyder of James Dean’s Mystery Been Solved?
One of the most enduringly intriguing mysteries surrounding vintage cars may soon be explained.
On September 30, 1955, while driving along Route 466 near Cholame with a buddy, legendary actor James Dean collided head-on with a 1950 Ford Tudor coupe being operated by 23-year-old college student Donald Turnipseed. Dean’s car was flipped into the air due to the impact’s extreme velocity. Dean was trapped inside with a fractured neck when it crashed back onto its wheels in a gully. The rising celebrity passed away while being taken to the hospital.
Dean’s Porsche, known as “Little Bastard,” had been modified by Dean Jeffries, a great pinstriper, and George Barris, the renowned creator of the Batmobile and the Munster Koach. Barris’ shop was right next to Jeffries’. Barris bought the car’s wreckage after the collision and frequently lends it to the California Highway Patrol for use in exhibits meant to deter speeding. Later, he sold the engine, the chassis, and the two remaining tires to a young New Yorker who was also an avid racer. The Little Bastard engine and chassis were used in the cars that the two doctors raced on October 21, 1956. One lost control and crashed into a tree, instantly killing the driver. Additionally, it was alleged that the young New Yorker’s car’s two tires burst simultaneously, sending the vehicle careening into a ditch.
But Little Bastard’s unexplained abduction from a locked container while being shipped from Miami to Los Angeles in 1960 was the most puzzling turn of events. In 2005, Chicago’s Volo Auto Museum made a public offer to purchase the automobile from whoever owned it for $1 million as part of an exhibition commemorating Dean’s passing on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Since then, all but one of the advice have been dead ends.
A contact was made to the museum a few months ago from a guy in Whatcom County, Washington, who claimed to have seen the car being concealed behind a building’s fake wall when he was a young boy in the 1960s. Officials at the museum requested that the man undergo a polygraph test to ensure that they weren’t being sent phantom chasing. He did, and he succeeded brilliantly.
While attorneys sort out all the relevant issues, authorities are keeping the man’s identity and that of the building where Dean’s fabled automobile is purportedly hidden a secret. After more than 60 years since the horrific death of its illustrious owner, Little Bastard’s destiny may finally be revealed to the public if a deal can be reached.
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Porsche 550 Spyder Transaxle from James Dean’s “Curse” Visits Haunted Museum in Las Vegas
There is a market for celebrity memorabilia as well as a more specialized niche for macabre showbiz-related items. Even though it is little, it nevertheless makes a lot of money because people will always be captivated by death and what follows after it.
That Little Bastard’s only surviving component, the Porsche 550 Spyder James Dean was killed in on September 30, 1955, fetched a high price at auction is not surprising. It is also not surprising that the transaxle, a similar component, would be shown at The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The transaxle first appeared on Bring a Trailer late last month, with the vendor stating that they have owned it since 2020 and displaying it on a metal frame. The 550 Spyder is associated with the legend that it was “cursed” because James Dean, an actor and racer who became synonymous with teenage revolt and disillusionment, passed away in it only a few weeks after purchasing it. Following the collision, the Porsche’s parts were reused, and a series of accidents—one fatal—also involving the receiving vehicles.
Of course, it is absurd to think that an automobile, or anything else for that matter, could be “cursed” and harm or kill someone on its own. Depending on who you ask, either way. Considering that Zak Bagans, the host of the Travel Channel program Ghost Adventures and proprietor of The Haunted Museum in Las Vegas, firmly thinks that these occurrences are real.
After making six offers on the platform, he was the one who ultimately paid $382,000 for the transaxle. He claims in one comment that he wants “everyone” to see the piece, thus it will be displayed at the Nevada museum. The news was not well received by Porsche purists, who claimed that the classic 550 Spyder should have been reconstructed using as many original components as possible.
Bagans claims that the transaxle is unquestionably “cursed,” much like the automobile was, in an interview with TMZ. It is quite likely that the transaxle still possesses the “curse” that killed Dean because it is the only piece of Little Bastard that is still known to exist (the body itself has been missing since the 1960s, when George Barris reported it stolen from a shipping container).
Even if it isn’t, the museum tickets it will get are worth their weight in gold.
According to a tip, he was present when the stolen Spyder was hidden.
The 55-year search for actor James Dean’s lost Porsche 550 Spyder may have come to an end. An anonymous tipster has come forward and said that he was present when the stolen Porsche was hidden away, spurred on by a $1 million reward offered by the Volo Auto Museum.
The mystery started in 1955 when Dean was traveling to Salinas, California, for a race in his diminutive 550 Spyder, which he had dubbed Little Bastard. He was killed by his injuries after colliding with a considerably larger Ford Tudor that turned left in front of him. His severely damaged automobile was sold to another racer who disassembled it and repurposed the parts; finally, George Barris, the renowned constructor who created the Lincoln Futura-based Batmobile used in the 1960s TV series, bought the car.
Barris had intended to rebuild the 550, but the project never got off the ground. As a result, he lent it to the National Safety Council. It was put up all around the country to educate drivers about the importance of highway safety. The wrecked Spyder frequently had a placard next to it that read, “This accident could have been averted.”
In 1960, while being transferred from Miami, Florida, to Los Angeles, California, the Spyder mysteriously vanished. Despite being reported as stolen, the police were unable to determine what happened to it or where it went. Since then, it hasn’t been spotted in the open.
The informant for the Volo Auto Museum states that he was six years old when he witnessed his father and a few other men conceal the Spyder in a structure in Whatcom County, Washington, behind a fictitious wall. His narrative initially seemed too wonderful to be true, according to museum officials, but he offered specific information that could only have come from an eyewitness, and he passed a polygraph examination.
Problem is, the museum will only offer the $1 million reward if it can legitimately seize the Spyder. The tipper has no claim to the automobile because he does not own the building, but he won’t divulge its location unless he is certain he will receive at least a portion of the reward. It appears that the building’s present owner is unaware of what may be concealed behind the walls because George Barris, who is likely the 550’s last legal owner, has not commented on the situation.
Officials from the museum claim that discussions with the tipper are still ongoing and that they are optimistic that they will find the 550 soon.
Brant Lerner
The TMZ website’s headline, “James Dean ‘Cursed’ Transaxle Sells for $400K,” had me do a double take and think, “You’ve got to be kidding me.” However, the reason for the sale at the Bring a Trailer online auction last month is even stranger.
Dean is still a source of endless intrigue more than 50 years after his passing at the age of 24 in 1955. Even though he only produced three films before his death in a vehicle accident, Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, and Giant, moviegoers are aware that he was already a blazing sensation. Gearheads emphasize the fact that Dean was a passionate club racer who passed away while operating a brand-new Porsche 550 Spyder on the way to a sports car race.
The late George Barris, the King of the Kustomizers, doggedly propagated the fantastical idea that Dean’s 550 was cursed, which is the main reason the story has gained a cult following and why the transaxle went for such an exorbitant figure.
In his memoir, Barris stated that there was “something weird about that specific car… a sense, ill vibrations, an aura.” The disaster that car touched all it came into contact with. Play ominous music.
In a Porsche 356 Super Speedster that Dean personally drove to the track in March 1955, Dean won his first-ever novice race at Palm Springs and placed second in the main event the following day. He finished third overall and first in his class in Bakersfield five weeks later. He had a blown engine and DNF’d at Santa Barbara later in the month. Even so, it appeared to be a promising beginning for a budding racer.
The author of the authoritative book James Dean On the Road to Salinas, Lee Raskin, disputes this. Raskin claims that James Dean was a bit of a daredevil as a child and had no fear of anything. “Did he drive well? No. First of all, he had severe myopia, which may help to explain why he collided with metal in every race he participated in. Second, in my opinion, he never used the brake.”
Like most racers on the planet, Dean was certain he needed a quicker vehicle. The four-cam rocket ship that would lead Porsche to small-bore supremacy was the 550 Spyder, so he exchanged the Speedster and $3,800 in cash for it. He also recruited pinstriping guru Dean Jeffries to spray-paint the moniker “Little Bastard” on the rear decklid.
After finishing the Giant movie, Dean signed up for a minor league road race in Salinas, which is located about 300 miles north of Los Angeles. Rolf Wutherich, a Porsche factory mechanic, proposed that they drive the car to Salinas to break in the Type 547 engine, which is known for being extremely sensitive. Dean had exercised the 550 on Mulholland Boulevard, wrinkling the aluminum bodywork by sideswiping a trash can. They were followed by Dean’s pal Bill Hickman, who would go on to become a footnote famous as a stunt driver in Bullitt and The French Connection, who was hauling an open trailer in a station wagon.
James Dean’s crashed Porsche will be sold in part at auction.
NEW YORK Part of James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, which was involved in the infamous collision more than 65 years ago, is being auctioned off.
The original and entire transaxle assembly was discovered in a remote area of Massachusetts after spending more than 30 years hidden from view and kept in a wooden crate. This discovery was made last September and revealed by an East Coast Porsche collector.
The only verified and documented component of the James Dean Spyder that is still known to exist is maybe this assembly.
On September 30, 1955, a famous actor passes away close to Cholame, California. He wrecked while traveling to an auto racing competition.
While returning from a highway safety exhibit in 1960, the original body and chassis were reported stolen.
The transaxle is now out of the wooden crate and put in a specially made exhibition pedestal.