The car and the myth
“You have to live fast, death comes soon ” is one of the most famous phrases that the actor pronounced james dean (1930-1955), and taking into account his premature death, it seems that he applied it to the letter.
To give more speed into his life, when he wasn't acting, Dean was professional runner of cars. On Friday, September 30, 1955, the artist and his trusted mechanic, Rolf Wutherich , were heading down the road to a weekend competition with the brand new new porsche 550 spyder of the actor in Salinas, California. Around 3:30 p.m., a police patrol stopped them south of Bakersfield and put a speeding ticket: circulated to 150 kilometers in an area limited to 89.
Later, as Dean drove down the Route 466, up there with Cholame, a 23-year-old Cal Poly student, Donald Turnupseed , after turning unexpectedly at an intersection behind the wheel of a Ford, collided frontolaterally with the Porsche of the protagonist of Rebel Without a Cause. The Spyder was totally shattered by the impact and Wuetherich was seriously injured but survived, while Dean broke his neck and died instantly. he only had 24 years.
Dean always liked speed
Thus man died to be born the myth and, on the rebound, eternally linked to it was the Porsche 550 Spyder model. James Dean's, specifically, was one of the 90 units manufactured by the German brand between 1953 and 1956 that the actor had bought during the filming of the film Giant as a transition car, since he had commissioned a Lotus Mk X but he was not going to be in time to compete in Salinas.
was personalized by George Barrys, who also customized the Batmobile and the Munster Koach of The Monster Family, adding a tartan upholstery, two red stripes on the wheels from the rear and number 130, which was the number he was going to race with at Salinas, superimposed on the hood, sides and rear. The model was nicknamed 'Little bastard' by James Dean, due to the hard which was driving him.
Curiously, only 13 days before his death, James Dean shot a spot television program to make American youth aware of the importance of be careful behind the wheel, noting the difference between drive on a circuit and on the road. Unfortunately, it seems that he was not able to apply himself his own lesson.
Just a week before the fatal accident, Dean coincided with the also actor alec guinness and wanted to show him his brand new car. When he saw it, he pronounced the following literal sentence: "If you drive that car you have, painted that color, it will be invisible to other drivers. It reflects the sun's rays too much... from a distance it may not be seen. if you drive it, you will die in a week ". It couldn't have been more foreboding because, sure enough, James Dean died a week after having that conversation. This conversation, strange as it may sound, was confirmed by Guinness himself in his autobiography.
"If you drive it, you will die in a week"
What happened to the 'Little Bastard' after the fatal accident ? According to the official version, George Barry bought it from the insurance company for $2,500 and has been moving it around promotional tours throughout the United States until 1960, the year in which, according to him, mysteriously disappeared when it was sent back from an event in Miami to his workshop in Los Angeles. At that point he lost track of the mythical car, until three years ago, Shawn Reily , 47, from the state of Washington, during psychological therapy revealed a memory from his subconscious as a result of a scar on a finger that he did not remember how it had been done.
His attorney alleged shortly afterward, Reilly recalled how his father, carpenter, had taken him to a job in 1974, when he was six years. Upon arrival, they met several individuals who claimed a wrecked sports car , which could have been the famous Porsche 550 Spyder, hidden behind a wall. Reilly now remembers that he cut his finger in the car. He also believes that one of the men who was there could be George Barrys.
This story has even come to overcome a polygraph test carried out at the request of Volo Auto Museum of Illinois . Barris, for his part, always maintained that the car was legally yours when he disappeared and that nothing has been heard of his whereabouts since then. So if the Porsche really is hidden in a building undisclosed somewhere in Washington, who owns it?
The mystery continues to surround the damn car in which one of the oldest lost his life myths of film history with a career as short as intense. titles like east of eden (Elia Kazan, 1955) or the aforementioned Rebels Without a Cause (Nicholas Ray, 1955) and Giant (George Stevens, 1956) will always keep their legend alive thanks to a unrepeatable charisma that already transpired in his words: "I don't even pretend to be 'the best'. I want to fly so high that nobody can reach me. Not to prove anything, I just want to get to where it's meant to be when you give your whole life and all that you are to a single thing”.
James and his Porsche, a dangerous friendship