I just finished watching a documentary about James Dean’s tragic vehicle accident. very tragic But I’m now a little curious—where is James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder right now?
In less than two minutes, find out if your auto insurance is being overcharged.
Yes, the accident involving James Dean’s speeding was unfortunate. Today, it’s a little unclear exactly where James Dean’s Porsche 550 Spyder, sometimes known as a Little Bastarda, is. However, Zak Bagans bought the purported transaxle and displayed it in his Haunted Museum in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Urban legends usually appear after a high-profile celebrity death. According to rumors, the salvageable components of James Dean’s Porsche were reused and put into other automobiles, and whichever vehicle the transaxle was put into met a similar demise.
Because James Dean’s death car was purportedly cursed, it was bought for $382,000 and now stands at Zak Bagans’ museum.
Learning about James Dean’s vehicle accident can encourage you to drive more cautiously or even to purchase a Porsche that isn’t cursed. In a similar vein, good auto insurance may guarantee your protection from financial catastrophe. Jerry can assist you in finding coverage quickly and reduce the cost of your Porsche insurance as well.
Jerry, a certified broker app, quickly identifies the best prices offered to you from more than 55 leading insurers around the country. It’s worthwhile to have a (free) look around to keep yourself protected elsewhere for less because the average user saves over $800 a year on auto insurance!
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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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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.
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.
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.
1955 Porsche owned by James Dean
After the collision, Donald Turnupseed’s 1950 Ford. James Porsche was struck on the left side by Donald’s Ford.
James Dean’s 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder was for sale. The “Little Bastard” was another name for the vehicle. James acquired his automobile in September 1955. He brought it to Barris Kustoms, where they made a few little adjustments. The number 130 was painted on the doors, hood, and both sides of the nameplate “Little Bastard” by Dean Jeffries. Several times, George Barris questioned Dean on his decision to pick 130. Despite having a good cause, Dean ducked the inquiry.
Porsche’s first race car in production was the Spyder 550. Because of its hand-formed aluminum body and tube frame, the automobile only weighed 1510 pounds. The vehicle was equipped with a 1.5-liter flat-four engine with dual overhead camshaft cylinder heads that produced 110 horsepower at 6.200 revolutions per minute.
Barris Kustoms gave it to James on September 30, 1955. He was traveling with his mechanic, Rolf Wutherich, to a Salinas amateur race. On the way, Dean was pulled over for speeding on the Grapevine, a lengthy, steep incline that is part of Highway 99 north of Los Angeles. They received a ticket from the California Highway Patrol officer. Later, Dean and his passenger pulled into the Blackwell Corner gas station. He ran into Lance Reventlow, Barbara Hutton’s son, who was also going to the race, at this location. They discussed automobiles while admiring Dean’s vehicle. James’ final supper would be some apples and a soda, which he purchased when filling up his Porsche. When student Donald Turnupseed attempted to make a left turn in front of James as he was traveling at a high rate of speed along highway 46 in the vicinity of Cholame, California, James was speeding and traveling west. A 1950 Ford driven by Donald Turnupseed struck Dean’s Porsche on the left side. Two people were hurt and one person died in the crash. Rolf Wuetherich, Donald, and James’ passenger all survived the collision. German mechanic Rolf, who was 28 years old and worked for Dean, was seriously hurt. James Dean, who was only 24 years old, died. The engine and transmission were purchased by Deans’ crew chief and used in other race cars.